#i agree his face should be in every billboard available

[notyourmusebby]

Carlos filming for L'Oreal Paris with Simone Ashley - Feb 11, 2025

[1ddiscourseoftheday]

💙Fri 11 Dec ‘20◟̽◞̽

Louis' big show is TOMORROW but that may not even be all we have to look forward to from him! Producer Alex Oriet (half of the duo Saltwives, who have worked with Zayn a lot, and he got his start working with 1D) reposted Louis' “new song” tweet to his insta with a caption- “soon”. OMG. Billboard had a 'year in livestreams' feature and wrapped up with Louis', saying “the best is yet to come” and reporting that Louis' show is Veeps' bestselling of the year “in excess of $1 million” (so either over a mil so far or a mil over the next best, hard to say, but it'll be well over a million by the end for sure so either makes sense).“I can't wait for tomorrow!” Louis tweeted, SAME, and “feels so good to be back with the boys getting ready. Can't wait for you all to see what we've been working on!” He included the brand new special Live From London twiiter emoji (!), it's a really cute lil vintage TV with the xx smiley on it, and a pic-- it's him looking over the backstage prep (so many screens) and you can see his hair flowing free and long and lovely! You can also see a piece of paper in front of him with 20 lines on it-- even if it is a set list I imagine some lines say “banter with crowd” and such like (as we saw on Louis' tour set list) but that's still soooo many lovely songs :))). Charlie Lightening says “this is going to be special, can’t wait for people to see what we have planned” and LTHQoffical is hitting us hard with the hype, posting another rehearsal pic (he's holding a beer and they didn't even scribble it out! wow almost like there's nothing wrong with that), and a time zone guide showing 66 cities around the world, and a digital fan pack, and they said more merch will be out tomorrow (heeelllp), and there's a show day itinerary-- ticket sales cut off 4 hours before the stream but much more interestingly, don't reopen (for the 28 hours of rewatch) until TWO HOURS after the start time. While they could (probably should) be allowing time for technical difficulties I much prefer to believe it's because we're getting a LONG SHOW YES PLEASE! I like my Louis shows like I like his hair, as long as he can possibly manage!! So that's plenty that we DO know to be excited about at the moment but the mystery of Louis new label also remains a hot topic nonetheless, with the known high cost of a twitter emoji stirring questions of who footed the bill (not something we're ever likely to find out sadly). If his team really understood us in the least they'd set up a viral video style Q and A where every Q pulled out of the bowl was an intensely detailed bookkeeping or promo strategy type query- tbh the faces Louis (or any one of the boys) would make would be 100x more entertaining than they get from any tired trying-to-be-cheeky standard Q and the answers sure would be!

Harry's prerecorded (months ago!) Jingle Ball performance aired at last and OH MY GOSH! SO GOOD! I think we can all agree (I know right?? I can't believe it either) that the backing band, Free Nationals, were phenomenal, and Harry's performance was terrific, just simply next level versions of the songs and Harry's sound in general. What more could we ask? For me, not much. For the Jingle Bell Ball organizers, well, they might have liked something Christmassy I suppose, maybe a holiday cover song, or a “tour of his home and holiday traditions.” LOL too bad! Whatever, they DID get vocal variations all over the place and oh did they work, a little lyric change in Golden (“I'm hoping someday I'll open”?), Harry in a sunny LA backyard (whose? who knows!) and everyone in not remotely festive Gucci. There were some decorations though! Not xmassy though- they were, can you guess, yes that's right: sky blue. And there was TRUMPET! A horn section, like revenge, is best served cold apparently: all these years on we can only assume Julian Bulian is good and sorry for denying Harry his trumpets cause DAMN did that sound GOOD. Julian may not say it but I will: you were SO RIGHT Harry, trumpets on every song!! Please! In fact, if you just took that guy on tour with you... or any of those people really? He can just have a really BIG backing band how about, then we won't have to argue about whether wanting this to be his band is mean to the old band. Anyway I hope the fan who ran into him in LA this morning told him how much we liked the show-- she did take a distanced pic, Harry is in his running gear (mostly black but bright fruity shoes) and holding a beverage. Oh yeah and Fine Line is now available to stream in “3D audio” (there's a moving in a New Direction from 1D joke in here headline writers, have at it) which is something that apparently only works with an Amazon device and is strange because physicists assure me that all sound is 3D, but what do they know. Anyway I'm sure it sounds great to those who can access it but luckily for me the album sounds great in plebian unbranded sound as well.

In the wake of Liam's no-show livestream yesterday fans are full of theories about what could be going on to cause such a thing, except actually it's only one theory; everyone is quick to ascribe the glitch to management struggles. May I simply say: there are so very very many things that could be happening in a person's life, even in a 1D member's life, that could cause a missed event and reducing any of them to 1 Dimensional figures who only have work related problems does them (and rigorous theorizing) a disservice. I hope we can all agree on wanting what's best for Liam, and that that extends to supporting him even if things are going on that are less glamorous than management villainy. I will ascribe one thing to management though-- I do believe the guys do the bulk of their own tweeting etc nearly always, but @Liam's tweet that yesterday's live didn't happen due to “technical difficulties” and they are “looking to reschedule” is one that I will make the exception for, sometimes you can just feel the PR person behind the screen! Tik Tok said it was rescheduled for next Tuesday, but the tweet was after that sooo hmm. The Billboard article about Veeps of course also talked about Liam (his Halloween show had 3.7 BILLION chat messages my god) and Liam's prerecorded alarm content today is Roman teaching Liam to do a Harry impression. How come when Roman does it it sounds like Harry but when Liam does it he sounds like Roman? Tip to Liam, just call it a Roman impression and you've GOT it!

Meanwhile, Lewis Capaldi weighs in on Niall and whether he (Lewis) enjoys golf with uncharaceristic delicacy; “we have different interests,” he says, and he sympathizes with a fan who said they'd slap him to meet Harry: “I understand.”

[yn-x-animeboy]

Jungkook x y/n (as a famous artist) Pt.5

pairing: reader x Jungkook

genre: fluff, romance, for entertainment purposes

BTS x Fem Reader

synopsis: You are a popular artist in America, pretty famous, loved and well-known by the general public (actually you were one of the top 10 artists in the world but you are pretty humble and naïve to realize your popularity), one day during one of your fan meets you talk about how much you love BTS, and not only how you wish to meet them and work with them but how Jungkook is one of your celebrity crushes. During the meet you fangirled with other ARMYs in the crowd; video clips of you fangirling and talking about BTS at your meet where posted and reposted all over social media. This obviously broke the internet because you were not only a famous singer but you also were always accepted and loved by ARMY and this made a lot of people happy. Suddenly it felt like everyone wanted you to meet the seven handsome and talented idols and collaborate, but you could only wish, you believed they didn't even know who you were...or so you thought

part 4: here

-----

Part 5- TIME SKIP

(a/n I will do another time skip so it wont turn out to be a 500 part fanfic)

Mini Billboard awards recap:

After the drunken hotel chaotic night you all were late for rehearsals, both your and BTS’s staff looked for you guys’ everywhere in the morning and the last place they thought to look for you all was in Jin’s room. Let's just say it was in general an interesting experience to find eight adults sleeping soundly in uncomfortable random positions. 

You all finally headed to your rehearsals for the performances. They invited you to watch them rehearse when you were taking a break from your own rehearsal. Even though the guys were tired, hungover, and their muscles ached from sleeping all over the place; they did such an amazing job at rehearsal, they were so professional. 

During the live award show your fans and ARMYs lost it everytime you guys would interact during the awards; the fact that you had met them last night and you all seemed to be such good friends now made fans so happy. Once again your name and BTS’s were going viral on social media; a bunch of ‘fancams’ were filmed and posted focusing on you all. 

You and BTS won all the categories you we’re nominated for that night and your performances went great too. That night after the award show ended, instead of going to the Awards After Party, you all decided to not go and instead hung out in Jin’s room again for the night. You ordered room service and champagne (this time everyone was only allowed to have 2 glasses max.).

After being all drained form the long day, you all went to your personal rooms. Jungkook again offered to take you to your room. When you arrived at your door you turned and looked at eachother,  this time sad smiles painted your faces, you had held in the tears when you where in Jin’s room because you felt sad your first real friends in the industry were going back to Korea tomorrow just like that.

Now you were standing in front of Jungkook, the man of your dreams, a literal fantasy that came true all thanks to your fans and supporters; you couldn’t help but tear up at the thought of letting someone like him go. 

You broke eye contact and turned towards the door to hide your tears, a small sniff from behind you made you stop dead in your tracks. Jungkook turned you around and hugged you tightly as he hid his face in the crook of your neck. You also wrapped your arms around him in response.

He loosened his hold and avoided eye contact with you as he was getting more and more emotional, his eyes where red and glossy; he cleared his throat and said “Well I think I should get going, It was so nice hanging out with you y/n- and meeting you, good night” he gave you another tight sad smile and walked off with his head hung low. 

You reached him and held onto the back of his shirt, “Don’t go....” you sniffed and played with the back of his shirt. “Do you want to.. maybe... hang out a little longer? O-only if you want to” you said awkwardly, but he smiled and nodded.

You went to the terrazze you had visited just the day before and sat on the outdoor chairs. You sat there talked all night. You stayed up until you could see the sun slowly rising; you both stood up, taking the sunrise as a sign to go back inside. Before you could even begin to move towards the door, “Y/n, can I hold you one more time?” Jungkook said, he was trying so hard to smile and not make you cry, but his little voice crack as he said it betrayed him. You sobbed and hugged him again, after a while he sat down, sitting you on his lap. You stayed like that until you received a “wake up” phone call from one of your staff members.

----

In the morning you all met each other outside the hotel, the boys said goodbye to you one by one hugging you and saving your phone number in theirs.  They even made plans, comparing your schedules and timezones, so that they could all facetime you daily.

While you waited for your assigned cars to pick you up, you all teared up and  huddled together saying goodbye once again. Paparazzi were peeking through the crowd of security and staff members to get an insight to the sad goodbye. 

----- time skip ----

It has been almost a year since the Jimmy Fallon Show. Even though the distance made everything more complicated, the guys have done everything in their power to make time in their busy days to dedicate time for you. After almost a year of daily video call conversations and catch-ups you have become such good friends, they even call you ‘yeodongsaeng’ (little sister) now; (the only one who doesn’t call you that is Jungkook tho, he calls you by your name or by random nicknames).

They have kept their promise after all this time, they facetime you EVERYDAY, they have never missed a day where they don’t call you, sometimes not all the seven members can be there for the call, but even if there is only one BTS member available, you WILL recive a call from them. 

You also have individual calls with the guys from time to time: 

Jin calls you once in a while when you are making dinner to help you/guide you and or just talk to you. 

Suga calls when he is stuck writing lyrics or creating beats for new songs, or just for musical advice. You are always the first to hear new BTS music now.

Jimin calls when he feels like talking, you have become each other's personal psychologists

J-Hope calls you every couple days to have “lunch together” through a screen. 

RM calls you too to chat a lot, you both recommend each other good books and even exchange lyrics from time to time. He also asks you to revise english lyrics to make sure they sound okay.

Taehyung calls you for pretty much everything: for advice, opinions, to catch up, for help, to keep him company etc.  He always knows how to make you laugh, and regularly interrupts your calls with other members.

Jungkook…. He doesn't just call you “sometimes”, he  not only  participates in the ‘daily facetime group call’, but he also calls you everyday before you go to bed, no matter what time it is in Korea or how busy he is, we always calls and to wish you a good night sleep; keeping you company and not hanging up until you fall asleep. Plus you two constantly text back and forth 24/7. 

You loved calling the guys and catching up with them every day, those calls were the highlight of your day; but every time you got a phone/video call, text, mail, snap, ANYTHING that was sent by Jungkook, your heart always skipped a beat; you felt tingles on the tips of your fingers every time you answer back; you smile stupidly at your phone and even now can’t sleep without your nightly virtual tuck in from Jungkook. 

(Deep down you knew your ‘platonic crush’ had become a real crush but you still denied it because in your mind, still, dating him seemed something impossible, but after every conversation you two have had over the course of almost a year left no doubt in your mind, he was the one for you)

-----

One day, you visited your label’s building, you had a scheduled meeting pretty early in the morning, you had never been this early anywhere, it was currently 5:30 am. and you were just arriving.�� Once you step into the meeting room you are greeted by the intimidating group of businessmen and businesswomen who are part of your team. Even though they are intimidating and powerful;  they are kind hardworking people; they really respect you and always listen to what you  want or have to propose. 

Walking in, you are greeted respectfully by them; the boss of the company stands up, gives you a side hug, and opens the chair next to his, inviting you to sit there, after you take a seat and your manager takes a seat next to you too. The meeting begins going over normal business stuff you don't really understand, (Sam would probably just translate the info later into simple words for you.) They talked about numbers, statistics and percentages until someone’s assistant said the ‘important person’ they had been waiting for was finally ready.

 You turned to the door as you expected the ‘important guest’  to come in through the door, but instead his video call was answered and projected on the room’s screen from a laptop. 

You recognized him immediately, he was BTS’s PD Bang Si-hyuk, he was the owner of BTS’s label company. You greeted him through the screen in Korean but he actually greeted you back in English before greeting your team.

the meeting’s summary: 

Bang Si-hyuk talked about how much BTS liked you as a person and as an artist; and how the Hybe Corporation also really admired and respected you.

He invited you to Korea next week to meet the Hybe corporation, and overlook some business proposals

He also offered for you to participate in RUN BTS, while you were there and hang out with the boys if you agreed.He hinted you would be seeing them more often, which made you more confused

You agreed to go and to visit the company and OBVIOUSLY to see the guys, but still, you were confused as to why this offer was being made, why now, why you, why?

After you kindly thanked him, you also asked why he was doing it. You were confused why make such a big deal for you to visit, and what he meant by ‘business proposals’ you were to overlook there.

Bang Si-hyuk tried to explain in short and simple words; he explained that:  Hybe and your label company had had meetings before, overlooking the possibility of merging part of your company under your name with Hybe, they were not only  interested in collaborating with you, but actually working with you. This would give you many more opportunities as an artist and for your label’s name. (your company has connections to other music companies in other countries too, but this time it felt more of a big deal to you than the others tbh) 

In conclusion if you agreed, and signed the contract; you could become part of the Hybe company while staying under your Label’s name

By doing this, it meant: 1. you had an extra contact in Korea (just like your company had in other countries) 2. extra work opportunities (thanks to your Korean speaking skills and influence) 3. possible future collaborations with BTS mainly, plus other K-pop artists 4. becoming a producer for other artists under the Hype record label  (something like what Suge does irl; you are now able to produce or work behind the scenes making music for you, BTS, and others. a.k.a your dream come true) 5. SO ON AND SO ON. 

You asked for the papers and after revising them with your lawyer and team you signed it, satisfied and excited tho what's to come.

You worked hard and finished all of your weekly tasks and even worked on things you had scheduled for next weeks. Before you knew it you were on your way to Korea…

You traveled on your  private plane;  you used it mainly to travel and avoid creating crowds in airports. (this was safer for you, your team and fans.)

When you arrived at Seoul, as you were getting off the plane and looked up after watching your feet as you went down the plane’s steps you saw seven boys stand out from the other people. They ran towards you and huddled around you hugging you tightly, they didn't let go of you, even as you all walked towards the assigned cars and again tightly rode the same car together like that one time after meeting on your way to the hotel. Staff members laughed at the Deja vú they felt as they saw a recreation of that chaotic day a year ago

It felt as if you all had never left each other, no weird silence, or awkward interactions, you all picked up where you left off.

When you arrived at the Hyde building, Hybe bilingual staff greeted you and your team, introducing themselves as the people who would be in charge of our care while visiting.

They took you and the few team members from your staff  traveling with you to one of the floors where they gave your team some temporary office cubicles, so they could do their jobs while away from their cubicles back in America.

The Hybe staff also showed you to a private studio/office next to Sugas’s, it was decorated for you, it was spacious, comfy and waay better than your studio/office from back home. They told you they wanted you to have a personal space where you could hang out or work, since it was probable you would now be traveling back and forth from Korea and the US, due to the new business alliance between your companies.

The guys showed you around the building and introduced you to many Hybe staff members. They all made you feel at home.

You visited PD Bang Si-hyuk at his office and met him in person. He was so kind and welcoming, totally opposite from what you were expecting. He told you how excited he was for you to be part of the team and to work with your company. He also asked you if you could record a short video for his nieces who loved you.

Then, after finishing the tour the guys took you to their favorite restaurant in Korea; they taught you how to eat Korean food, how to properly hold chopsticks and about general Korean culture.

They showed you to the nice building of apartments where they currently lived and where you would also be staying when you came here.

You all toured you apartment and hung out the rest of the afternoon, enjoying each other's company. 

After having dinner and chatting for hours the boys waved you off as they left your temporary home; they wanted to stay up and drink (again Jimin’s and Jin’s idea) with you but they knew you were super jet lagged from the time difference, fighting off sleep as you tried to enjoy your time with the guys.

They lived in the same apartment complex, but a different building, (a lot of famous Korean celebrities stay here too due to the security and convenience)The apartment complex was almost like a hotel resort or a private villa/island, it was huge, it had everything, form tennis courts, gyms, cafés, etc. It was also close to all the major ‘artist’ studios, sets, buildings. 

So once the guys left, all they had to do to get home was ride the elevator down to your building’s the main floor, walk a bit, enter their building, get on an elevator, go up a couple floors, walk a little more and then into their shared million dollar apartment that was a literal castle compared to your apartment. (your apartment was big and luxurious too, but theirs was a multimillion dollar apartment)

You just arrived and felt so at home, everyone was so nice and promised to take good care of you. Nobody looked down at you or your team for being foreign or for being the ‘new guys’. Everything felt again like a dream. One day you are talking about BTS to your fans, the next you meet them, the next you are making contracts with the company they work for, the next you will be working with them; What’s next?

For now you are in Korea for two weeks max. The plan was to introduce you to the company, talk about future plans, projects, etc., and once that is done, go back to America and every couple of months or weeks depending on the schedules, travel back to Korea, etc, etc.

----

You brushed your teeth as an uncontrollable smile painted your face. Once you got ready for bed and finished texting your staff members making sure they were comfortable and well taken care of  after a long day, you heard a knock at the door. You cringed at the noise, you felt as if you were hung over almost, in reality really you were just super Jet lagged (the day before coming here you binged watched a TV show in one night, packed just hours before leaving to the airport and ditched sleep all together before and during the plane ride...stOpid) You stumbled around the unknown apartment with the lights off towards the door; it was not that late at night but who would be looking for you right now.

When you looked through the peephole you recognized them immediately; their hair was now a little longer from the last time you saw them, they had different earrings decorating their ears, they seemed different, still super attractive, but that smile did not change at all, it was still that adorable bunny smile that seemed melt your heart every time. 

You quickly typed the alarm code, unlocked the multiple locks on the door and swung it open, revealing a nervous Jungkook, you had hung out with him and the guys less than an hour ago, but now he was nervous… (he was scared you changed your mind about him after almost a year from meeting and seeing each other in person, he was scared that he was not you celebrity crush anymore, he was scared that the real feelings he had developed form all your daily video calls, texts, random phone calls were not corresponded, he was scared that you had forgotten about those night at the terrazze, he was scared you had changed after a year).

As he stood frozen you couldn’t wait or control yourself any longer and you flung yourself towards him; you hugged him as tight as your body could (during all the time you hung out today you never once had a moment just the two of you alone) but as you leaped and wrapped your hands around him you started thinking about him and how he could be feeling right now and couldn't help but feel a little insecure, (what if he had come all the way back here to tell you whatever happened a year ago in New York at that terrazze was a mistake, that all the calls and texts were just friendly exchanges, what if he came to tell you you were better off as friends or worse.. better of as colleagues…)

It took Jungkook a split second to respond to your hug, you loosened your grip as those thoughts had sworn in your head, and after realizing Jungkook was not hugging you back, so you prepared yourself to get your heart broken… but that all went away as Jungkook wrapped his arms around you, he lifted you a little off the ground as you rewrapped your arms around him, hiding your your face in the crook of his neck. You inhaled his scent as he held you even tighter against him. He rocked your bodies lightly as you held each other in front of your door. 

After, you loosened the hold on each other, but didn’t let go, you looked into those beautiful dark brown eyes you had missed and had prayed to see in person one more time after all this time; He lifted his hands from around you and cupped your face, lightly stroking your cheeks back and forth with his thumbs. “hi” you said, just like that one time in that New York terrazze, “hi” he responded with an adoring smile as his eyes traveled through your face, looking at your every detail, he didn’t want to miss anything, h was so glad to finally see your face in person instead of on a 2-D cellphone screen.

 As you two stood outside looking at each other you suddenly  shivered a little from a cold air breeze that swooped by, it was pretty chilly outside compared to your comfy apartment’s room temperature, it was almost winter; you gently took your arms from his neck and wrapped them around you to warm you up. You had answered the door barefoot, in your pajama shorts and oversized flowy t-shirt without thinking twice. But you then realized Jungkook was wearing a short sleeve oversized shirt too, it was pretty chilly outside and he came all the back to your apartment not wearing a hoodie or jacket. 

“Omg Jungkook it's cold outside why wouldn’t you wear a jacket, jeez” you said as you pulled on his arm leading him inside the apartment to keep him from the cold. “Actually I came back here to get my hoodie back,” Jungkook said. A small “Oh…” escaped your lips as you switched on the light illuminating the once dark room “I see” you again said, almost whispering, avoiding his look as you walked deeper into the room to look for the missing hoodie. You felt disappointed almost, ‘he came back for his hoodie duh, why would he have bothered coming back to ONLY see you’ you though as you looked in the living room, you  didn't see the hoodie there so you then went to the small dining room next to the kitchen to see if it could be there, ‘maybe he took it off before we all sat and ate the take out dinner for dinner’. You spotted the black fabric neatly sung over the seats’s back where JK sat earlier.

Jungkook took off his shoes and tried to catch up with you before you could take the hoodie off the seat and after seeing your reaction to what he had just said; yes he actually did leave his hoodie by accident, but that wasn’t the reason why he came all the way back, so when he saw how your face dropped and heard that reply of yours, it gave him the courage to say why he came back. 

He took a deep breath and cleared his throat before saying “Um, y/n, actually, ‘me forgetting my hoodie’ was just an excuse to come back here and see you again” he swallowed and looked down at his feet. “I don’t really care about the hoodie, I wanted to come here and see what would happen; if you would be excited to see me alone, if you would be glad or happy it was me at the door, you have no idea how bad I wanted to be the first and only one to hold you as you got of the plane, how badly I wanted to run towards you, picking you up and not let go, how bad I wanted to spend the day just the two of us and just- um *clears throat again*”  he fiddled with his fingers, he was so nervous to admit that outlawed he didn't even notice you turning back to look at him as he  confessed. You found his actions to be so adorable and cute.

You giggled and stood in front of him, once you were closer you carefully took his fiddling hands in your left hand and used your right hand to lift his face up to look at you. “Thank you, you made me really happy by coming here to see me, I missed you so much too and couldn’t wait to hang out with you again, I only wished for an opportunity where only the two of us could hang out, but you took the courage to come all the way back here, thank you” you responded to him and his actions with a warm and loving smile that made Jungkook’s legs feel like giving out and heart feel as it could explode. 

He again  observed your face now under a brighter light, he couldn’t believe how your face could look so, or more, beautiful then you face with the light makeup you wore just hours ago. You broke eye contact and spoke, “So um do you have to leave anytime soon?” as you looked anywhere but his face. Your tired eyes and shy tone warmed his heart even more “No, I don’t….. why?” he lowered his face, closing a big gap of space in front of you, forcing you to stop avoiding eye contact and look at him again.

“Well um I was thinking we could hang out again tonight. I could make some…. *you yawn* popcorn and watch a movie, or I could make some coffee and we could talk, or…..” you wanted to keep going but you felt another yawn coming so you stopped talking to fight it off. Jungkook chuckled at your adorable yawns. He  took the hoodie he had forgotten in the first place form the chair behind you and put it over your head. 

“Y/n you are tired, I think it’s best if you rest and tomorrow we could find a way to hang out again just the two of us…” he said as he fixed the hoodie around you, but you cut him off, “Please don’t leave, I haven’t seen you in a year Jeon Jungkook.” you realized how needy and clingy you sounded, but you actually did want to hang out with him. 

You rubbed your tired eye, fixed the hair around your face (your hair was inside the hoodie but some baby hairs tickled your face) and looked back at him, his eyes were wide and surprised at your reaction to him leaving,  “I’m sorry, it’s okay, I get it. I don’t want to make you do anything you don’t feel like doing, it’s okay...guess i will see you tomorrow then” you said as you tried to hide the sad look off your face and smile at him. 

He was moved, the fact that you didn’t want him to leave meant so  much to him, he took you face in his hands and kissed your forehead softly, he then kissed the end your your nose he then kissed the space next to your lips, he didn’t want to kiss you and make you feel uncomfortable or taken advantage of; but you being you, immediately spoke as he kissed the side of your lips ``aye that is not my lips...what a tease” in a sleepy tone. He chuckled as he opened his eyes and looked at you. You had your eyes closed, head slightly looking upwards and a smart smile, as you found your own reaction funny. 

He chuckled and blurted out: “cute..”. You opened your eyes to clap back, but before you could even open your mouth and say something back he leaned in again, shuting you up real quick…. but he leaned slowly…..very slowly…..v eee r y slowly…...SUPER SLOWLY, he was taking his dear time, he now discovered he liked teasing you like this. You got impatient and just closed the space between you for him, giving him a short peck before pulling away. This was the first kiss you have had after a year; you walked around him to tease him back for teasing you in the first place. He stopped you by placing his arm around your waist, “Are you expecting me to accept ‘that’ as our first kiss after being apart for a year…” he said. 

“Oh, so I’m not a good kisser? Was that not good enough.. okay… I guess I-'' you played the victim but were quickly cut short by Jungkook pulling the hoodie on you towards him and stealing a kiss from you.

You smiled against his lips at his neediness, but kissed him back as you placed your hands on the back of his head, sliding your fingers through his hair. He slid his hands under your hoodie and placed them on your bare waist, and pulling you even closer. You kissed each other slowly, taking in every detail about the kiss, not wanting to miss a thing; as things heated up you picked up the pace, the sweet kiss turning hungry and deeper. He moved his hands from your waist downwards and your once delicate fingers playing through his hair suddenly pulled softly making him groan against your lips; he squeezed his hands behind you making you whimper against his lips, he used this as an opportunity to deepen the kiss even more; he had lifted his hands and placed back on your sides as he softly caressed your skin under the hoodie, you wanted to to that too; so you slid your hands from the back of his head, down to his chest and too, under his shirt, you could feel his abs tense as your cold fingers lightly brushed against his skin, continuing to slide your hands around his torso, and gently running your fingers on his skin. That action made his breath hitch at his throat and his heart skip a beat. 

The two of you kissed passionately taking the other deeper, not wanting to let go. After a while you both slowly pulled away, breathlessly and numb from the kiss, you both wanted to go further but knew it was not time yet. You rested your foreheads together as you catched your breaths, looking adoringly to the other person, swollen lips, rosy cheeks and curious eyes. 

He spoke first, as he used his finger to soothe the skin under your eyes, “You need to rest y/n, come on”, pulling your arm and leading you. You thought that meant he was leaving, but this time you didn't fight him back; but instead of leading you towards the door he lead you to the big fancy couch in the living room, he turned on the TV to a random Korean variety show and lowered the volume to the point were if there isn’t absolute silence you couldn’t hear a thing the TV was playing. 

You both sat on the deep couch, he lent you his arm behind your head as a pillow as you sat closely next to him, the silent TV and warmness coming from the handsome man next to you quickly started to drowse off. Jungkook planned to keep you company until you fell asleep and then leave you to rest comfortably. 

JK watched the screen as he waited for you to fall asleep. Once he could feel your breathing rhythm became deeper indicating you officially had given in to sleep, he looked down to you and smiled at how adorable you looked, he stared at you for a little longer as he reflected on how lucky he was his once celebrity crush now actual crush was so close to him; he was so glad to have such an amazing person in his life and prayed he never had to be without you in his life ever again; he badly wished he could have you as his and only his but he understood the circumstances, he was happy he could athletes share precious moments like this with you. 

Jungkook shifted in his seat as he was about to stand up to leave you the full couch to rest, but you turned towards him, and wrapped your arms around him. “Don’t…” you whispered against his shirt, you were asleep but your sleepy conscience managed to say that. Jungkook couldn’t resist, he planted a soft kiss on the top of your hair, he then pulled you back with him from a sitting position to a horizontal one as he laid his back on the couch taking you with him without waking you up. He too quickly gave in to sleep as he held each other. 

---------

a/n: I'M SO SORRY for taking so long to update, I had writer’s block and had no idea how to pick up the story, but last night I got inspired hahaha. I re-wrote this part and started writing part 6&7 so wait for those too.

THANK YOU FOR BEING PATIENT, ILY :3 Xx

PART 6 ------> here

> NEXT PARTS WILL BE BETTER I SWEAR <3

[nomolosk]

Snapshots (AU Yeah August 2020)

read on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25655623/chapters/62626303

Day 8- Secret Dating

Marinette had no idea what she was doing or even what was going on. One moment she was convinced that she’d gravely offended Gabriel Agreste, who had rudely fallen on top of her while she was sleeping the night before, and the next she’s feeling disoriented and confused because the man she thought was Gabriel Agreste actually turned out to be his son, Adrien Agreste. 

Marinette really felt like that was something she should have known. Why didn’t she know that before? Adrien was a public figure! His face was all over billboards on a regular basis! He featured in every Gabriel magazine, and his ads were in most other magazines as well. She should have been able to recognize him, or even remember that Gabriel had a son, and she should have noticed that the man last night looked too young to be Gabriel himself. She remembered all of that as soon as the man introduced himself properly, so why hadn’t she remembered it before?

On top of that confusion, was the fact that not only was he not offended by last night’s mistake, he was the same hot model from the cafe! Marinette knew she was scatterbrained sometimes, but surely even she couldn’t forget something like that!

Something was definitely rotten in the state of Denmark. Or Paris, at any rate. And it was probably due to some kind of akuma. This one, though, was apparently very subtle. Marinette continued to make small talk with this unfairly hot and inexplicably interested model while she tried to sort out what was going on and how she really felt. The manipulation of her own emotions wasn’t entirely out of the picture if there was an akuma involved. Then someone else called his name and annoyance and distaste flitted over his face before he smoothed out his expression into something polite.

The woman who’d called his name was probably another model, someone he worked with- she was tall and beautiful and projected an air of, not just confidence, but possessiveness. She latched onto Adrien’s arm as if she was a cat, and he was a scratching post. Marinette’s eyes flicked to his face again, but while his expression didn’t waver, he was looking anywhere but her- which in itself was a huge warning sign. He was clearly used to this behavior and as clearly wished it wasn’t happening.

“Adrien! Fancy meeting you here!” The brunette simpered, completely ignoring Marinette.

“It should hardly be a surprise to you, Lila,” Adrien answered calmly. “I’m sure you overheard Nathalie giving me my schedule for today after last night’s photoshoot.”

Marinette raised an eyebrow at the emphasis on ‘overheard,’ turning slightly away from them to rearrange some of the jewelry on the table, trying to decide which piece would best suit the woman. She had warm coloring, so gold or brass toned, maybe copper… Marinette suppressed a smile as Lila sputtered a bit.

“You know I’m just concerned about your health, Adrien,” Lila finally cooed at him. Marinette could practically hear her pout. “Your father works you awfully hard, and I almost never see you outside of work.”

“If you’re so concerned about it, perhaps you should be a little more cooperative during our photoshoots so they don’t drag on for forever.”

The woman named Lila laughed, “But Adrien, you know your father relies on me to make sure all our pictures together are just to die for!”

By this time Marinette had finished straightening, and had picked out something she thought would suit the woman. There was currently a mania for ocean-themed jewelry, and an eight-stranded gold chain bracelet with an octopus charm would suit Lila. She picked it up and turned back to them, just in time to see Adrien looking pointedly away from Lila as the woman in question tried to plaster herself to his side, with her face tilted up in what was probably supposed to be an inviting way.

Marinette blinked at this blatant display, but she’d already decided to interfere, so she spoke up anyway. Ironically, Lila’s current position made the octopus charm even more fitting for her. Marinette could practically see the invisible tentacles she was trying to wind around her fellow model.

“This bracelet would suit you, Madame,” Marinette said, in her best salesperson tone. “The delicate gold chains compliment without overwhelming, and the charm in the shape of an octopus is the latest trend.” She draped the bracelet over a stand she’d made herself and held it out for her to see. 

Lila looked at Marinette blankly, as if surprised to find her standing there. Her mouth opened a little, and she actually allowed an inch of space to open up between herself and her prey. Marinette noticed but tried not to show her satisfaction. She was conscious of Adrien turning his head to look at her, too, but she didn’t take her focus off the woman in front of her.

“Oh! Ah…” Lila’s posture and expression both softened, conveying apology. “I’m so sorry. How rude of me to ignore you like that.” One hand flew to her chest, presumably in embarrassment, but Marinette had seen that maneuver too many times before to believe it. She was simply trying to draw attention to her ‘assets.’ “I just saw my Adrien here, and everything else vanished! You know how it is when you’re in love,” Lila simpered, throwing an adoring look towards Adrien.

Adrien snorted. “We are not dating,” he said firmly, making eye contact with Marinette and gesturing between himself and Lila.

“Well… not officially,” Lila in a lowered tone, with a coy look and a wink.

“Not officially, and not at all,” Adrien clarified. “Not even a little bit.”

“That’s right!” Lila said brightly, smiling and winking again. “Not dating officially, or at all!” 

Yet, despite agreeing with Adrien, she tried to cozy up to him again. Adrien leaned away from her.

Marinette narrowed her eyes. This could be a clever plot to throw sand in the eyes of the paparazzi, but she hardly counted as paparazzi, and it was hard not to notice the thinly veiled disgust in Adrien’s eyes. 

“Oh, don’t worry,” she heard herself say. “I know all about that.”

----

For the second time in two days, Adrien was surprised to the point of being stunned by this woman. Most people, when confronted by Lila’s well practiced acting and lies, rolled over and believed every little thing out of her mouth. That was why he was so determined to make it clear to Miss Dupain-Cheng that there was nothing between him and Lila. Yet Lila, of course, had managed to make his firm declaration sound like nothing more than a cover up. She was trying to imply they were dating in secret, and he had been just about to deny that categorically when the woman he had a real interest in took charge of the conversation.

“Oh, don’t worry. I know all about that,” she said with a sweet smile. “I was trying to be discreet earlier, but now that you’ve shown you recognize me, I can be more open. Right, Adrien?”

Adrien quickly nodded, even though he had no idea what this woman was planning, and turned to see Lila’s reaction.

“Recognize you?” Lila asked in some hesitation. Adrien had to give her credit for acting. Anyone else would have put scorn in that question, trying to put this interloper in her place, but Lila didn’t know what she was up against, and was playing it safe with a sweeter tone.

“Of course!” MDC said (at some point he should really learn her first name). “Adrien talks about you all the time- you know, how professional you are at photoshoots, and how you play along like you really do like him. We’re both grateful, you know. In fact, why don’t I make you a gift of this bracelet? It’s the least I can do after you’ve selflessly taken so much of the heat off him.”

Adrien felt like proposing on the spot. He watched this woman whom he barely knew, whose night he had ruined, wrap the thin bracelet in tissue paper and produce a small velvet bag with her initials embroidered on it. She folded the tissue and put it inside the bag, drawing it shut, and then held it out to Lila with a kind smile. And all the while, Lila stood there, dumbfounded, with nothing to say for once. It was the most beautiful thing anyone had ever done for him.

When MDC held out the little pouch, Lila reached for it, inadvertently releasing his arm. Adrien flexed it subtly to shake off her touch.

“Well… thank you. Although... I’m not really sure what I’m thanking you for,” Lila said, actually sounding genuine for once in her surprise. MDC raised her eyebrows.

“You, covering for Adrien and me, of course,” she replied, with the warmest of smiles.

Lila choked. Then she whipped her head around to glare at Adrien. Adrien called on all his experience and produced the warmest of smiles, though he felt another little zing of surprise himself. But he was more than happy to roll with it. 

“You really are the best of friends,” he said, digging deep into his minimal store of fond memories for inspiration. “M and I…” he trailed off as he floundered for something to say to support the story she was building.

Once again MDC came to his rescue. “It’s so comforting to know Adrien has someone to ward off the opportunistic until my brand gets off the ground and we can go public. Naturally, neither of us want anyone thinking I’m only dating Adrien to get to his father, or his father’s company.”

“Right,” Adrien corroborated, sending MDC an even warmer- and far more genuine- smile. “M’s designs are amazing, and I want her to get the recognition and acclaim she deserves, instead of having people think Father is either using me to get her on his design team, or that she’s using me for the same purpose. Plus, you know how adamant Father is that I remain at least outwardly ‘available’ so my fans will stay happy and keep buying his clothes.”

Lila’s mouth tightened ominously, but once again, M (dang it, he really, really needed to learn her first name- maybe she had business cards around here somewhere?) defused her in the only possible way- she praised her.

“So really, thank you. I just can’t tell you how much I appreciate it. You know, most girls would totally take advantage of a situation like this, but… I know Adrien and I can trust you.” MDC smiled warmly and opened her arms, hugging Lila before she could do anything about it. 

“Think nothing of it,” Lila said breathlessly. Adrien knew her well enough to know that her social instincts were currently at war. She probably wanted to verbally cut M into bite sized chunks, but M was also a person currently offering the praise and adoration she craved. “Of course, I... you know I’d do anything for Adrien.”

“Well, I appreciate you, too,” MDC said, finally stepping back. “We’ll definitely have to get together some time. Oooh, maybe you can join us for dinner some time! It’ll look less suspicious if it’s a group of three, don’t you think? Besides,” M said, with a little wink, “sometimes it’s just as well to have a chaperone, you know?”

Adrien had to hide a huge grin as Lila choked for the second time and started coughing. “Are you okay?” he asked, faking concern. “And oh hey, isn’t that Claudio over there?” 

Adrien knew he was far from Lila’s only target, and the handsome Italian model was the perfect distraction.

“Oh yes, I think it is. Well, I guess I’ll just go over and say hello,” Lila said, once she recovered. “I know we were supposed to have lunch, Adrien, but I don’t think I can pass up the opportunity to speak my native language with someone instead.” She sighed, falling back into her usual persona. “I get so homesick sometimes.”

“You poor thing!” MDC cut in. “Yes, of course, go on! I’m sure Adrien would be only too happy to let you cancel at the last minute.”

“Well, it would look good for my cover, but I guess I’ll just have to make do with my actual girlfriend,” Adrien said, daring to move closer to MDC and reach out to gently touch her arm. She blinked before smiling up at him. Apparently this small display of affection was too much for Lila, though.

“Thank you for the bracelet,” she huffed and marched off, slowing and shifting to a swaying walk as she approached her alternative target. As she did, there was an almost imperceptible shift in the air...

@auyeahaugust

[haydnfleury]

Flatline

**MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH DISCLAIMER**

Who: William Nylander, Zach Hyman

Type: Dark Fic

Word Count: 2.4K

Addendum: Title is from the song Flatline off the Hotline Miami soundtrack.

~AO3 Version

 The next morning seemed like any other winter morning in Toronto. Frost forming on the windows from the dropping temperatures, the sound of early morning traffic on the streets below, and the alarm blaring its usual tone. Except, something’s different. Wrong.

 “I love you Zachy.”

 “I love you too Willy.”

 They kissed and held each other closely under the covers, beginning to fall asleep.

 The next morning seemed like any other winter morning in Toronto. Frost forming on the windows from the dropping temperatures, the sound of early morning traffic on the streets below, and the alarm blaring its usual tone. Except, something’s different. Wrong. Zach is usually the first one to get out of bed anyway, but Willy doesn’t seem to have woken up like he always has when the alarm went off before practice- in fact he doesn’t seem to have moved at all from where he was the night prior.

 “Honey?” Zach asks trying to shake him awake.

 Nothing. A little louder and harder this time- nothing. Starting to panic, Zach bursts into the closet digging around for their travel suitcases. After having thrown half of the clothes out, he finds them, and grabs a small hand-held mirror from the toiletries bag. Holding it under Willy’s nose the glass starts to fog up. Good, he’s not dead at least.

 Zach hurriedly throws on some clothes and phones up emergency services, as well as the new coach and several teammates. EMT’s arrive within five minutes of him calling, and rush Willy out to the ambulance, constantly monitoring his dangerously low vitals on the way to the emergency room.

 By the time he was stabilized and Zach was let into the room, the entire team had arrived, bleary-eyed from sleep but still quite visibly concerned. The doctor began to explain that he suffered from a stroke sometime in the early hours of the morning, and that he was stuck in a coma. The rest started to become a blur as Zach got lost in his own thoughts, How did he get a stroke? We’re both too young for-- When is he going to wake up-- Is-- is he going to wake up? Please don’t leave me like this. I don’t--

 The thoughts are interrupted by Mitchy’s hand on his shoulder.

 “Hey, are you okay?”

 When he looks up the doctor had already left, and everyone was looking at him, all with the same question on their face.

 “I. I don’t know,” is all he can manage to say, he doesn’t really know the answer to that himself yet.

 “In light of events this morning, we’ll move practice to tomorrow,” Keefe decides and everyone nods in agreement, “Hyman, take the week off if you need it, I won’t think any less of you if you need more time off.”

 Outside in the ward, they start to hear a growing chatter, and the clattering of equipment. The Media.

 “Oh boy, already? I need to go take care of this. John? Do me a favour and call Kyle, have him restrict the media for injury protocol.”

 And with that the coach goes out and closes the door behind him, and Tavey steps into the bathroom to make his phone call. Zach pulls a chair over to the bedside and sits down, grabbing Willy’s hand. At this point he can’t hold back, lowering his head onto his hand and bed underneath it, as the tears start to break through.

 Mo makes his way over and puts his arm around Zach. Mitchy is suddenly reminded of his own boyfriend, Marty, being suddenly taken away from him when his plane crashed on his way back from the off-season, and starts tearing up. Tys pulls him into a hug and lets him cry into his shoulder. Everyone else in the crowded room just looks on solemnly.

 Zach stays at the hospital for three days. Initially Tavey steps up as captain and visits them first, bringing Zach food each day so he’d remember to actually eat. Everyone else visits in their own time.

 After the third day Zach returns to practice, something to hopefully take his mind off of what’s going on. It works well enough, returning to drills and playing on the first line for games. Focus. Focus on something else. The team. The game. Getting that puck into the net. Focus.

 It’s been three weeks since that cold morning. Zach’s thoughts are composed enough now, and they’re in the middle of a game at home. He’s in a face-off when he sees Kyle entering the player bench on the phone, they’ve been discussing different trade opportunities lately- a Marlie or two for a player from one of the other teams- so he doesn’t think much of it. When the play ends though to an off-side, he calls a timeout. Yeah, they’re losing 5-2, but they’re still in the second period, so they shouldn’t need it yet right?

 But when they all come together, there’s no whiteboards, no iPads, no talk of plays or strategies. Keefe seems to have lost his tongue, shuffling in place, so Kyle speaks up.

 “He’s gone. William. He’s gone.”

 It’s dead silent on the bench, aside from the few who had dropped what they were holding, and Zach’s world seemed to be crashing down along with them.

 “It was about four minutes ago, I had just got off the phone with the doctors. We um, we’ve decided to forfeit the game; I don’t think any of you wants to continue playing now.”

 Nobody seems to have the strength to respond. But they all stand up and make their way down the tunnel to the locker room while Kyle radios to the staff to forfeit, and block all media personnel from the Leafs’ sections of the building. When they’ve all dressed and make their way to the parking garage Zach is the first person to even say a word since Kyle told them.

 “Morgan, can you drive me home? I can’t really think straight.”

 He agrees and, and he’s not exactly wrong. At the moment everything is just noise, bright and blurry colours, and the cold air; he wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between 60 km/h or 150 km/h, or a red light on an intersection with a car coming from the other direction. Not to mention the fact he couldn’t bring himself to drive in their car, knowing Willy would never be in the passenger seat again.

 When they get to Zach’s apartment, he fumbles with the keys to get the door open. But seeing their home, *his* home now, makes his stomach churn. He bolts nearly through the bathroom door and pukes his guts out in the toilet. Composing himself, he gets himself back up and washes his mouth out in the sink, as his mind becomes a tempest of emotions: anger, frustration, despair, guilt.

 As he looks in the mirror, the anger takes over and he punches the glass with his hand, cracking it, and drawing blood from his knuckles before he collapses against the wall, bending his legs towards him and crying. The sound of breaking glass had Mo rushing over to see what happened, only to see the shattered reflections, and his teammate in tears on the floor.

 “Hey, hey, it’s going to be okay,” he bends down and then notices the blood, “shit, we better fix that.”

 Having been to their place enough times, Mo knew his way around, and so he dug through the cabinet to find the first aid kit. First examining the hand, then grabbing the tweezers to pull out the remnant shards of glass. Switching to a piece of cloth and wetting it with alcohol, he cleans the wound. It draws a sharp, pained breath from Zach.

 “Sorry, I know this probably hurts like hell,” once it’s cleaned, he wraps it tightly.

 He manages to get Zach ready enough for bed and sits on the couch, figuring he should probably stay and keep an eye on him for a while. Meanwhile Zach tries to sleep, but his thoughts are racing. He’s gone. William. He’s gone. - I love you Zachy. That’s the last thing I ever heard him say… and I can’t ever hear his voice again, or see that smile of his, the deepness of his eyes, his- his- his fucking laugh that could brighten an entire room. - Why wasn’t I there… Why- why him? Why do bad things happen to good people? It- it should’ve been me, not him, never him. I- I can’t- I’ll never be able to feel his touch again, never be able to hold him- I- I-… his thoughts trail off, and he’s whisked away to sleep.

 In the morning the tears are gone. There aren’t any left. Period. In its wake is just emptiness. A void which can’t be filled. Mo had made breakfast for them by the time Zach got out of the bedroom. They eat in near silence, Mo tries several times to say something, but can’t find the right words to say. All he can think of is “I’m sorry,” which the only response he gets is Zach looking up at him before looking back at the food.

 That night, he tries drinking his problems away. Forget. Just forget. It works for a while, but it always comes flooding back in the morning. The time they visited Niagara Falls with the team, when they were on the Ferris wheel together, the first time they kissed literally during a game, moving in together when his lease on the last place ended, all their date nights, the stroke-- he stopped. What was the point if it was only temporary.

 The funeral services had been arranged by Tavey and Kyle, it was an extremely private ceremony, attended by teammates and the bereaved family. Zach was quite visibly a wreck, but no one was really much better. It had shaken up everyone, he was more important to everyone than they had even realized. Zach managed to speak in basic Swedish that he learned from Willy to his family. David [Pastrnak] also showed up to mourn, on the verge of quitting his career in hockey- he just lost one of his oldest friends.

 Within the week, a joint statement was released by Kyle and Keefe about the death, to a shocked nation. Everywhere, from Los Angeles to Halifax, or Vancouver to Miami, almost every major city in Canada was pouring in support and remembrance. Everywhere Zach went, he would see some calibre of remembrance on a poster, billboard, or bus- a constant reminder, He’s gone.

 Cigarettes was the next thing he tried, but to no avail. He had felt the exact same as before after one, and so he threw the rest back into a drawer to be forgotten.

 The team had taken nearly a month away from playing, but had gotten back to it. But it wasn’t the same. You lose a player they’re usually either traded or retired. Their place in the lineup or their stall in the locker room would be changed out, but they’d still be around, just not under the same colours. Not this time. No team would ever have him again. The players just keep moving forward, it’s all they can do, but the thought always lingers in the back of their minds.

 Mo didn’t intend to, but he effectively moved in with Zach until he thought it was fine for him to be alone, besides Gards would keep their place up until then. It never really improved though. Zach would just go through the motions. Get up, eat, practice, sleep. Get up, eat, play, sleep. Repeat. He could definitely still score, and help the team, but the celebrations never had the same feeling. There was always someone missing that would never come back, and be on the ice, be on the lineup. Life had started to lose it’s luster, and nothing changed that. Get up, eat, practice, sleep. Get up, eat, play, sleep. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

 Time didn’t seem to have a meaning anymore either. It could be seconds, days, weeks, or months, Zach couldn’t tell the difference. It was always the same cold, dark world that it was yesterday. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. He’s gone. He’s fucking gone.

 Was there any emotion left? No one knew. Everyone was consoling each other, but Mo, he didn’t know how to help. He’d never lost someone that close to him, Gards was there and waiting for him to come home. He did what he could, but even before starting to talk to a therapist he could see Zach was a husk of what he used to be. Everything was cold. Cold and dark, all of it a blur.

 Mo was already asleep on the couch, and Zach in bed when the city’s power grid failed and plunged the Greater Toronto Area into darkness. Zach walked out of the bedroom and through to the veranda, and sat on the railing. He looked up. Stars. It felt like eons since he last saw them. There’s something. A memory. Faint, but still there. Willy. When they both joined the Leafs in 2016, Zach was lost. It was a new place, new people, new everything. Willy was one of the first people he met. Willy had been to and from Toronto so many times as a kid with his father, he knew the area well. One of the first things they did together was drive out to a spot Willy would always go to. Since he was a kid, there was always this one place outside the city he would go to. It was a secluded little clearing where at night you could see the stars above. They had become friends quickly after that. It felt like centuries ago now though.

 Zach can’t feel anything anymore. He could be falling, but he doesn’t know. He swears he could hear someone calling his name, but it seems so far away and distorted. He doesn’t bother opening his eyes to check, everything is cold and dark, and the world around him is the same, there’s no point to. I love you Zachy. I love you too Willy. He feels like he hears that being said again, but it’s coming from everywhere, and nowhere. Then, nothing. Oddly, it becomes warm, warmth he hasn’t felt in who knows how long it’s been now. He feels something touch him. It’s familiar, yet completely foreign.

 “Zach.”

 Willy. Zach actually has the willpower to open his eyes now. Willy is pulling him up. He feels oddly weightless, and disorientated. He’s on the sidewalk. He tries to look behind to where he was but Willy holds his head with his hand and stops him.

 “Don’t.”

 He stops. By now he notices they’re both hovering off the ground.

 “Are we dead?”

 “Afraid so.”

 Willy moves over to the side of Zach and holds his hand as they both float away.

 “Where are we going?”

 “I don’t know, but I waited for you. Wherever it is, we’ll find out together.”

 “I love you honey.”

 “I love you too, forever and always.”

[parkersharthook]

All My Sides Ch. 3

(Peter Parker x female!reader)

warnings: tension, stupid decisions, kidnapping

3.5k+ words

Ch 2

“Spider-man… I have something you want.”

Peter’s blood ran cold as the video panned over to Y/n who continued to hold her head high despite the fear in her eyes. She had a bruise forming around her right eye and blood spotted on her bottom lip. Her wrists were bound behind her back and her feet were tied to the chair she was currently sitting in. There was a gag in her mouth. Peter sprung to his feet, running to get his suit on immediately.

“Spider-man… this is a live video that is playing on every news station and screen available. Every billboard in Times Square, every phone in civilians’ hands, every radio and TV station… they will see your beloved Y/n Y/l/n die if you don’t listen to every instruction I give.” Peter watched on the TV in his room as Dr. Connors appeared with a sinister grin. “Meet me in Time Square in thirty minutes or…” he glanced back to Y/n, “well you can guess.”

“Mr. Parker, Sir is calling you.”

“Decline.” Peter’s voice came out rough and gritted as he pulled on his civilian clothes over his Spiderman suit and shoved his mask into his backpack. He slung it over his shoulder and sprinted down the steps of the tall tower, and continued running the short distance to Times Square. He saw the hordes of people stopped and staring at the billboards and then to the sky as numerous avengers began to appear in the sky overhead. Peter pulled up his hood and dropped his head. He knew what Dr. Connors was looking for, and if he let Y/n get hurt due to his stupidity… he would never let himself live it down.

The mad scientist came back onto the screen, “I’m glad you followed my orders Spider-man. But I see you didn’t show up as you… I’m proud. You remembered our little game. Citizens of New York!” His voice bellowed out of every speaker nearby, “We’ve been missing a certain web slinger for the past week. No one knew why, until now. Our friendly neighborhood Spiderman,” he spat out every word, “has lost his powers.” Gasps rippled through the crowd.

He continued, “He is just an ordinary boy. But this is no ordinary girl, you see. This is Y/n y/l/n. Not only is she the daughter of former police captain but she has a special relationship with Spidey. And if he doesn’t cooperate then at 6:30 pm her body will be dropped from the bell tower of St. Margaret’s church. You know the one.” Y/n’s eyes filled with terror and her body tensed against its restraints. “So… Spidey. You know where to meet me. It’s where we first met. Just you and me. You have twenty minutes.”

Peter could still see the avengers with the ability of flight soaring through the sky scanning the people below them. They were looking for him, trying to stop him from doing something stupid. He noticed Sam tuck his wings and turn tightly around, heading towards the large church in search of Y/n. Peter shook his head and fell into the crowd of people. He knew that Y/n wouldn’t be there. He quickened his steps as he walked towards what might be the place of his demise. He had shit to do.

~.~

“Can anyone see him?” Tony barked out from his spot above the pointing crowd

“Nothing.” Bucky muttered as he pushed through the crowd.

“He should be here!” Steve growled out into the comms.

“That guy said that this was a game.” Wanda stated, looking down back alleys for him. “They’ve done this before.”

“So Peter’s not here?”

“He said that Spiderman showed up but not as ‘him’.” Natasha muttered and then it clicked, “he’s not out as Spiderman.”

“Fuck.” Steve muttered, “We’re never going to find him.” He turned his head towards the sky as Sam began to fly back in, “Sam?”

“She’s not there. Nobody is.”

“It’s a game guys.” Wanda repeated, heading towards the rendezvous point. “Nothing is going to be straight forward. Stark, don’t you have some kind of tracking on his suit?”

“If he even has the suit…” Tony muttered, “But it’s only activated when he has the mask on.”

“Well we know he’s going to confront this guy either way. We’re just gonna have to wait.” Sam suggested.

“Not gonna happen.” Bucky growled out.

“Bucky’s right.” Clint said, “let’s find out everything we can about this guy.”

“We can’t waste time going back and forth between the tower and here.” Natasha met Bucky’s eyes from across the crowd and nodded slightly. “Meet me and Bucky on the corner of Broadway and 7th. I have a plan.”

~.~

“Seriously guys?” Tony said with a raised eyebrow as he stepped through the doorway into the small apartment. Natasha rolled her eyes and walked to a small linen closet.

“We don’t tell you everything Stark.”

Tony sat down in an office chair and spun around slowly, “but maybe you should.”

Wanda picked up a throw pillow with a small smirk, “it’s cute.”

Bucky fought back a groan, “don’t make us regret this.”

Clint folded his arms and leaned against the wall, “so what’s the point of this. Why are we here?”

Natasha pulled out 2 large metal briefcases from the closet and set them on the dining room table, “It’s close to times square and St. Margaret. We can use this as a base until we know for sure what is happening. It saves time and energy.”

“We have more resources at the tower.” Tony drawled out in a complain

Steve rolled his eyes, “Natasha has everything we need right here, and I know you have your mobile computer with you. You take it everywhere.”

Tony grumbled under his breath but still pulled out a rectangular device. He flicked it in the open space causing blue holographic projections of the news to appear. Wanda and Clint took a step closer to examine each broadcast and headline. Anything that could give them a clue.

They all worked in silence for a while, trying to solve the mystery when Tony spoke up, “A secret apartment? Really?” Everyone groaned in annoyance, “next thing we know, you’ll be telling us that you two are married.”

Natasha walked by him with a stack of reports. She sent him a devious wink, “maybe we are.” She sat down at the table with the folders and opened them up one by one.

Steve, who had been looking over her shoulder, stopped her movements. “Check out this one.”

“But you guys aren’t… right?” Tony turned to Bucky who was concentrating on the profile of Dr. Connors, “married, I mean.” Bucky glanced up at the older man but offered no answer as he just got back to work.

“What’s important about this one?”

“Look at these.” He spread out the photos of a fight that Spiderman had been in a few years ago.

“What about them?” Wanda asked as she came up to the table. “It’s just Peter fighting a big lizard.”

“Right but look at this one.” Steve repositioned a grainy photo of Peter fighting a large lizard who had a shredded lab coat on his back.

Clint picked up the photo and looked at it closer, “I remember this. It was something with Oscorp before they went out of business. SHIELD try to uncover the details, but everything was pretty much burned to the ground.”

“Gross… Oscorp.” Tony said with an exaggerated gag

“Do you remember anything else about it?” Steve asked Clint. Behind them Bucky’s eyes had widened as he read a particular file sheet.

Clint scratched his head like the old man he was. “I think that this lizard guy was some guy who experimented on himself. Went completely wrong, as they always do. But after the battle with Spiderman he didn’t show up for a while. We assumed he died.”

“Guys…”

“Why hasn’t anyone asked Peter about this?” Wanda asked

“It never came up, I guess.” Natasha supplied

“Guys…”

“Well after all of this is over we need to get more details on this.”

“Agreed.”

“Guys!” everyone turned to Bucky who had grown paler. “The lizard is Dr. Connors.”

“What?”

“Look here.” Bucky showed them all the written report on the scientist, “He was a scientist at Oscorp for years and then he suddenly went off the grid after that incident. He lost an arm from an accident and his main topic of research was regeneration of tissue.”

It clicked for Tony, “he tried to regrow his arm and turned himself into a lizard.”

Wanda furrowed her brows, “please connect the dots.”

Tony swiveled to face her, “lizards have a regenerative property. Dr. Connors probably studied them and mixed their genetic makeup with something else producing a mix of the super soldier, hulk, and Spiderman serum. He injected it into himself and it went wrong.”

“Meaning that he turned into a big ass lizard?” Steve asked, obviously still not convinced.

“Think about it. This doctor guy suddenly disappears after this incident with a large lizard which is the animal he happened to experiment on. Then he suddenly comes back looking for revenge on Spiderman?” Bucky said, “It’s obviously him.”

“Okay but how would he know Peter’s identity? Or his connection to Y/n?”

Wanda smacked her forehead, “Y/n had an internship with Oscorp back in Highschool. She literally worked next to the guy.”

“Okay but Peter and she weren’t dating back then.”

“But they were still friends.” Wanda supplied, “she told me that her and Peter would sometimes meet up for lunch during her break and talk about all this sciencey stuff. Dr. Connors even approached Peter about him working there full time.”

“But he decline because he had an ‘internship’ with Tony Stark.” Natasha supplied. Wanda nodded at her.

“Okay but how does he know that Peter is Spiderman?”

“Ladies and gentlemen! The main act has arrived!” The TV which had not been previously on, switched to life with the live broadcast.

Clint frowned deeply as he stared at the television, “oh shit here we go.”

~.~

Peter froze as the broadcast came over his phone.

“Hello there Spiderman! Still dressed as a civilian I see… good boy.” Dr. Connors’s voice was chilling. He continued on, “I’m proud of you for going where I wanted you to, but you aren’t finished yet.”

“Leave her alone!” Peter’s voice came out rough and hoarse.

“Tsk tsk tsk. Not so impatient young man. But congratulations are in order as you have solved my previous riddle. But alas neither I nor this fair maiden is there.” Peter moved to turn around and walk right back out of the sewer, but Dr. Connors’s voice stopped him. “Awww, don’t leave yet Spidey. In fact, I don’t think you can.” He laugh maniacally, “I have a camera on you right now. You turn around… you reveal who you are.”

Everyone tensed. Everyone in that apartment full of superheroes, everyone on the streets of New York, everyone who had a radio in their car, everyone who was hearing this tightened their muscles.

Natasha, though nervous for the boy, still had her mind in spy mode and took notice that Peter seemed to be in an abandoned subway tunnel.

“He has his backpack.” Wanda whispered, “That means he has his suit.” At least that was some good news.

“But Spiderman you seemed to overlook a few key details. Yes… it is true. I wanted you to end up where you are, but that isn’t where we first met. Think hard, Spidey. You can do it… you’re a smart boy.”

“Why don’t you just reveal my identity now? Why do this? What’s your end game?” Peter called, his back still turned to the camera

“What’s all the fun with that?” he cackled loudly. “You have 30 minutes to get where you need to be. And please… do show up as Spiderman. It’ll just make it that much more dramatic.” The screens went blank and it took a few moments for the shock to wear off.

Peter got moving immediately. He knew exactly where he had to go.

~.~

“Where is he going?” Tony asked in frustration as he slammed down some paper on the table

Steve pressed a finger to his ear, “Sam? Status?”

“Empty.” The voice came back static, but everyone still heard the message. They deflated.

“If he isn’t at the Oscorp building and he isn’t at his apartment, then where could that fucking mad man be?”

Natasha sat in silence, fingers pressed together as she thought over everything. She turned to Bucky who was in a similar position as her, “where did Y/n intern?”

“Oscorp Industries.” Bucky replied stoically.

“Yeah I know that. But where? Which location.”

“What do you mean which location?” Natasha rolled her eyes at her sometimes clueless boyfriend and pulled some papers closer to her. She checked them over once, twice, and then a third time again. Something wasn’t adding up. Click.

She opened her laptop quickly and typed out a quick google search. She let a small smile slip over her lips. “Boy oh boy, are you guys lucky to have me on the team.”

“What do you mean? What did you find?”

Natasha turned her laptop around as everyone crowded around, “The location listed under Y/n’s place of work is the Oscorp in Midtown. But if you go through the records of their listed employees she isn’t listed there.”

“An unpaid intern?” Wanda asked. Natasha shook her head and pulled Dr. Connors’s file closer.

“Look at his. Place of work, same building Red Division.” She pointed to something on her screen, “This Oscorp building was very open to the public. It had tours and interns and schematics online, but as we know Oscorp was into some very shady stuff.”

“They had a secret division with a secret building.” Tony said as he smacked his forehead, “how could we be so stupid?”

“But we would have found out about that when Oscorp fell.” Clint pointed out.

“Not if it was listed under a different name. That Oscorp building was organized into 3 colors or access levels: blue, green, purple. And if Y/n was as high up as she is labeled as, she would be in blue. There is no red.”

“Then where did Connors work?” Wanda asked, studying the file and still not making sense of anything.

“Here.” She typed out a quick search and spun the screen back around towards her teammates.

“Location not found?” Clint gave her a look

“Exactly. It doesn’t exist… anymore.”

“Wait… that address. That seems familiar.”

Bucky looked at the paper, “that’s because it was the Red Line Grocery Market back when we were kids. We worked there for two summers.” he looked up at Natasha, “but the address would still exist.”

“Not if they redid the gridlines in that neighborhood. That grocery store is still in business, bought by one Norman Osborn almost 2 decades ago. They moved locations once the gridlines were redone to a new and upcoming neighborhood… in Queens.”

“How did you even find that out?” Wanda asked somewhat amazed.

Natasha shrugged, “googled red division with Oscorp. The article that the Red Line Market was under new ownership came up. Researched the given address, linked it to its old address and the gridline renewal. Found its current location.”

“So, that’s where he’s hiding Y/n? In a grocery store?’

“Not exactly. A block from that store is a supply warehouse where they keep their inventory. I bet you, that’s where we find them.”

Bucky slowly shook his head, “I don’t doubt that this is all a connection but how on earth would Peter have his first meeting with Connors at this warehouse that no one affiliates with Oscorp?”

“I’m honestly not sure, but we’re gonna find out.”

~.~

Peter took a deep breath and walked through the warehouse doors. He didn’t even remember this place for the longest time, but as he took in his surroundings the memory came flooding back.

“Hey Peter!” Y/n called as she walked down the sidewalk with a new-found energy. Peter spun around, his bag of groceries hanging from his fingers. He smiled widely.

“Hey Y/n! What are you doing down here?”

“My boss sent me to pick up some supplies from the warehouse around the corner. I’m meeting another scientist there.”

Peter chuckled slowly as they fell into a steady rhythm, “no offense but that sounds kind of shady.”

Y/n laughed and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, “I thought so too honestly but a ton of the other interns have been here before and have met this Doctor, so I think everything will be okay.”

“Do you want me to walk you?” Peter suggested lightly, “Just in case?”

Y/n bit her lip and looked up at Peter through her eyelashes, “I’d like that.”

Peter pulled the mask over his face and threw his backpack behind some random shelf. He didn’t really care if he lost this one. “Spiderman!” The loud booming voice came through a set of speakers on the wall. Peter shivered, knowing that the man behind the voice was much closer.

“Welcome everybody! To the final act! This next performance will truly test your precious Spidey’s heroics… if he really is the hero you believe him to be.”

“Let her go!”

“Sorry Spidey… no can do.” his words came out slow and taunting. Peter wanted to punch him in the face. “do you remember?”

“remember what?”

“the first time we met. You stood in front of me, shook my hand, smiled, worked beside me.”

Peter shook his head and frowned, “I wish I never met you.”

“hey now. Don’t say anything that you’ll regret.” He stepped out of the shadows, crazed look in his eye. He cocked his head to the side and smirked, “words hurt you know.”

“Where is Y/n?”

He clicked his tongue, “oh don’t worry… I’ve been taking very good care of her.”

~.~

“Guys! Guys!” Wanda yelled loudly pulling everyone out of their heads. “he’s back on.”

Bucky leaned against the back of the couch as he stared at the TV, “well Nat he looks like he’s in a warehouse.”

“And you’re surprised because?” She smirked as she loaded a gun and slipped it into her thigh holster. “Now what are you waiting for? Let’s go get our boy.”

~.~

Connors pointed his finger at Peter and stepped towards a large door, “follow me Spiderman, I’ll take you to her.” Peter took a hesitant step forward as Connors whirled around to face him again, “oh by the way you’re still being broadcasted. Say hello to New York!” He waved his hand excitedly into the air.

“Dr. Connors, you’re sick. You’re not stable.” Peter said calmly and slowly

Connors’s eye twitched and he shook slightly, “I’m fine! But your girl won’t be if you continue like this.” he breath heavily, “now… follow me.”

“Dr. Connors, you know me. You know Y/n. You don’t want to hurt us, and I don’t want to hurt you.” He raised his hands steadying them. His web shooters pointed directly at the man.

He cackled maniacally, “You think that I know you can’t handle your web shooters? You have no powers! You are nothing right now! Oh silly silly boy.” He pulled a small button out of her pocket and hovered his thumb over it dangerously close. “I press this, and she’s gone.”

“What?” Peter’s voice cracked slightly

“There is a gun.” Peter swore he stopped breathing, “Sitting directly in front of Y/n. Fully loaded and ready to be fired. now guess what the button does.”

Peter didn’t know what to do. he was lost. He had never been in this situation.

“now, if you’re’ ready to cooperate. Follow me.” Peter took slow hesitant steps behind the crazy doctor until the two entered a large empty room. In the middle was a metal chair, she was tied to it. Her hair was matted to her face with sweat, small dribbles of blood were falling down her face. A gun sat directly in front of her face. She shook with fear.

“Y/n….” Peter barely whispered. he moved to reach her, but Dr. Connors just moved his thumb closer to the button. Peter stopped and tore his eyes away from Y/n to look at Dr. Connors, “lower the trigger. What do you want? Money? Security?”

Dr. Connors laughed and shook his head, “don’t be ridiculous Spiderman. I know you don’t have any money and the minute that your little Y/n is here, I know you’d send those little friends of yours to find me. No, I want something else. Something that only you can give me.” His smile widened, and Peter felt his blood run cold.

He watched as Dr. Connors slowly walked over to Y/n and pushed the chair forward by an inch, the gun almost pressing against her skin. She whimpered in fear and squeezed her eye tightly.

Peter’s voice wavered, “what do you want? I’ll do anything.”

“I know…”

“please, Dr. Connors.” Peter was one threat away from dropping to his knees and begging.

He laid a surprisingly soft hand on Y/n’s head, but she flinched away anyways. “I want you to take off your mask, Spiderman. Reveal yourself for who you truly are.”

Ch 4

taglist: @awkwardfangirl2014 @givinggoodvibes @unhealthyobsessionwithmarvel

[zayntoxicateme]

June 18, 2018 

We managed to catch up with the quietly enigmatic singer.

Read "How Do You Explain Zayn?"

Zayn, the one-named man who found himself reborn after leaving One Direction, is now on GQ's cover. In his shoot with Sebastian Mader, Zayn channels Tyler Durden and Leo DiCaprio's Romeo. And the wildly enigmatic singer also let down his guard, briefly, in talking to writer Carrie Battan about his relationship with Gigi Hadid, the self indulgence of being a "star," and his crafty use of the paparazzi for his own devices—a story you can read here (full story is below; the link will take you to the GQ website)

How Do You Explain Zayn?

By

Carrie Battan

Photographs by

Sebastian Mader

The 25-year-old British singer is deeply, maddeningly, almost trolling-ly enigmatic. And that cultivated mystery—along with his disdain for the standard rules of superstardom—is probably what puts him on the short list for COOLEST HUMAN ALIVE. On a recent Friday night, though, he dropped his guard and spilled his guts.

There are exactly two places in New York on a Friday night where Zayn Malik can smoke Marlboro Lights as liberally and openly as he pleases, unencumbered by gawkers or the city's increasingly draconian anti-smoking laws. The first is Zayn Malik's SoHo apartment, where he spends the majority of his time, zoning out, reading books, listening to music, and "partaking in the herb," as he says. The second is the Mary A. Whalen, a 172-foot-long restored-tanker-ship-turned-nonprofit-hangout-spot that is docked off the shore of Red Hook, Brooklyn. The ship is closed for business after 6 P.M., but tonight its leader, a hardy blonde ship preservationist named Carolina, has agreed to keep it open late to accommodate us. No crowds, a few plastic chairs, and a gently lilting surface that is basically a giant ashtray.

There is just one problem: The temperature on deck is decreasing rapidly with the setting sun, and Zayn—the 25-year-old former British-boy-band member, current solo pop-ish star, and all-around inscrutable avatar of contemporary celebrity—has arrived with nothing on his person but a lighter, a backpack, and an iPhone. No jacket on his rail-thin five-ten frame—just a pair of charcoal skinny jeans, a distressed Pink Floyd T-shirt, a bright pink beanie that obscures his new flower skull tattoo (or "tah-oo," as Zayn pronounces it). He looks so modernly cool, blending a hip-hop swagger with a punk-rock edge, that he should receive a cut from Urban Outfitters every time someone makes a purchase. He is the only man whose Disney-princess-long eyelashes seem to bolster his machismo rather than diminish it. Nobody this dreamy has ever bothered to check the weather to see if he should grab a jacket before leaving the house. Through chattering teeth, he rejects multiple offers of blankets. "It's all good," he insists, burping faintly after taking a swig of his Peroni. "I'm cool."

Still, Carolina avails us of the ship's warmer galley. "I might have a cigarette first?" Zayn asks, as though he needs permission, gesturing toward the other side of the ship. Over there is his assistant Taryn, a young woman with French-braided pigtails that make her look more like a high school soccer player than someone designated to manage the everyday logistics of a notoriously slippery superstar's life. She is the custodian of his pack, doling out individual cigarettes to Zayn periodically.

But Carolina assures us Zayn will not have to stay outside to smoke his cigarette. She'll let us smoke belowdecks on the condition that Zayn provide her one of his Marlboros and permission to snap a photograph. She promises she won't post it until after the story runs. "Uh…yeah?" Zayn replies, sounding sincerely surprised that he is the one who has to answer a question that was directed at him.

A steely detachment from life's mundane logistical concerns is part of almost every celebrity's existence, but it is the core of Zayn's being. This character trait has ruinous potential, but it also means he gets to live his life exactly how he pleases. And it means that he doesn't have to express a single word or hint of desire in order for the conditions around him to re-arrange to his liking and comfort. There's a hapless Peter Pan quality to it that makes it tough to hold against him.

We settle around the table in the '70s-style kitchen on the boat. It's 15 degrees warmer down here and private. Zayn instantly appears relieved, his shoulders unclenching and his brow de-furrowing. He stops shivering. He is in a womb-like space, drinking beer and smoking cigarettes, and he seems palpably and unexpectedly happy. "Thanks," he says quietly and earnestly in Carolina's direction as she seals off the door behind us. "Couple of times I tried to quit. But I just like smoking cigs. Simple as that."

There is a major conundrum in Zayn's life, which is that he may be constitutionally incapable of being a star. He tells me so almost immediately. "I don't work well in group situations, with loads of people staring at me. And when you say 'star'…everyone wants you to be this kind of character that owns a room or is overly arrogant or confident. I'm not that guy," he says. "So I don't want to be a star." Zayn seems to aspire to the soul of Prince, or some cult '90s skate-punk figure, but is trapped in the trajectory of a Justin Timberlake.

A decade ago, someone like Zayn would not have become the Chosen Member of a band like One Direction. The Chosen Member is the boy-band graduate whose solo career evolves and hurdles into grown-up relevance, ultimately overshadowing the band's legacy. Until recently, you could spot a Chosen Member from a mile away—he was unequivocally the best dancer and the one the most girls wanted to bring home to their parents. But Zayn never fit the mold of a Chosen Member. From the day One Direction formed, on the U.K. show The X Factor in 2010, he was cast as the smoldering background foil to the eager-to-please Harry Styles and Liam Payne. His energy and his dance moves were muted. He presented as the quiet, disillusioned one.

But in the past five years or so, it has become acceptable—necessary, even—for a young pop star to show some edge. Thanks to the social-media-fueled, ever intensifying quest for authenticity, real or feigned, we no longer expect our most famous musicians to be toothless and virginal robots. Now we demand that they show a certain degree of lustiness, instability, anti-heroism. The Weeknd scored a No. 1 hit with an elaborately coded song about a cocaine binge—and then followed it up with another No. 1 hit, this one explicitly referencing a cocaine binge. Lana Del Rey's entire aesthetic revolves around a kind of narcotized death wish. And Taylor Swift spent her last album desperately trying to persuade us that she really is villainous. Even Disney's babiest-faced of pop princesses, Selena Gomez, is getting mileage out of her demons, playing a Girl, Interrupted–style heroine and rocking a hospital bracelet in a music video. Face tattoos are basically required for entry onto the Billboard Hot 100 these days. Squeaky-clean is no more.

And yet even for the most tortured-seeming of these artists, there is still a fierce expectation that they play the game. Mild drug habits or mental illnesses are perfectly acceptable, so long as someone is willing to write catchy songs about those tendencies and then later gussy them up for arena audiences and gamely field jokes from talk-show hosts. Even Justin Bieber, the poster child for our current era of troubled pop stars, is always just one phone call with his pastor away from being able to quiet his demons and pop-and-lock on demand.

Zayn seems like a perfect avatar for this new generation of bruised pop heartthrobs, but he's the only one of his cohorts who can back it up with a sincerely jaded disposition and an unpredictable way of being. He is the only one who is staunchly unwilling to play the game. You will not find Zayn cheesing with a random group of famous people for someone's Instagram story at Coachella, nor will you find Zayn learning the latest viral dance move with Ellen DeGeneres. When he released his solo debut, Mind of Mine, two years ago, he opted out of touring altogether, surely pissing off a bunch of emotionally and financially invested parties. And although he promises to be more public-facing this time around—he insists he will tour—he's still removed from the album-cycle content churn. He says the creators of Atlanta have reached out to him to appear on the show—a dream opportunity for anyone in the music industry at this moment—but persnickety Zayn is still mulling the potential. "If the part's right, I'd be really into it," he says. Even the "behind-the-scenes" video that accompanied his new single fails to actually take anyone "behind the scenes"—it's just the song playing over some B-roll. "I guess the cameraman didn't get too much footage," Zayn says on the boat. "I might have been running away from him a bit."

When I ask him why he failed to show up at the Met Gala a couple days earlier, he almost chokes on his cigarette smoke as he exhales. He went to the Met Gala once, in 2016, and that experience symbolized everything he detests about being a famous person—and the litany of coercion and artifice that someone in his position experiences.

"I did go, but I didn't go there to be like, 'Yo, take me serious,' " he remembers. "I was taking the piss! I went there as my favorite Mortal Kombat character, Jax."

He continues: "The Met Gala is not necessarily anything that I ever knew about or was about. But my [former] stylist…would say to me, 'This is really good for you to do.' And no matter how strong you are mentally, you can always be swayed to do certain things. Now, it's not something I would go to. I'd rather be sitting at my house, doing something productive, than dressing up in really expensive clothes and being photographed on a red carpet.… To do the self-indulgent Look at me, I'm amazing thing on the red carpet, it's not me."

Here Zayn catches himself, probably realizing this might register as a diss of Gigi Hadid, the 23-year-old supermodel he's been in an on-again, off-again relationship with for two years. The supermodel who very much seemed to enjoy dressing up in really expensive clothes and being photographed on the red carpet days earlier.

"I get it, and I understand that people gain enjoyment from it," he says. I ask if he followed along with the coverage from his couch. "No, no," he says, and pauses. "Gi stole the night, though. The stained glass on her dress. Everyone else just put a cross on."

When I ask Zayn if he has any confidants in the industry, he shakes his head vigorously. "No," he says. "I don't ever want to cross wires with other people too much. I just want to see the world through my eyes."

Zayn grew up with three sisters ("I was outnumbered," he says) and is still surrounded by women, ensuring that there's a high level of exasperated but fond maternal energy swirling at all times. Blood relatives and the Hadids—particularly Gigi's mother, Yolanda, who seems to have taken on a Kris Jenner–ian role in his life—make up much of his inner circle today. ("We get on. She's really fucking cool. She's a Capricorn. She's the same star sign as me.") He recently parted ways with his high-profile manager. His best friend is a younger cousin.

"I'm not [in] the mix," he says. "I'm outside the mix."

This kind of stubborn non-participation,  of course, is a reaction to the years Zayn spent being in a mix that was not to his liking. When he was a kid, growing up in the northern working-class city of Bradford, singing was just one part of an aimless but all-consuming creative impulse. He never thought he was much of a singer, until one day the choir leader at his performing-arts school praised his voice and suggested that he try out for Britain's premier vocal-competition show. Zayn's mom had to drag him from his bed at 4 A.M. to attend the audition, where he broke from the typical pop fare with a rendition of Mario's "Let Me Love You."

After his X Factor audition, there was an exchange (never aired) in which head judge Simon Cowell probed baby Zayn. " 'You know, with all these online platforms, why haven't you ever put out anything prior to this?' " Zayn remembers Cowell asking him. Zayn seemed the type, after all: a soft-spoken and artistically gifted teen who liked to sing alone in his bedroom and tinkered with rudimentary song-recording equipment. "I didn't necessarily think my stuff would be seen amongst the millions of people who put their stuff online. So I went with X Factor at that age," he says now. Like any fickle teenager, Zayn "just did it for fun, to see what would happen."

The day that Zayn auditioned, he was among many aspiring solo artists rejected by the judges. But five of the young singers were cobbled together as a boy band in a later segment. Thus was born One Direction and a rabid fandom that British people love to compare to Beatlemania. A craze so fierce and massive that it generated global synchronized flash mobs and fan-fiction authors who've reportedly scored six-figure book deals. In an instant, Zayn was thrust into a star-making boot camp, fast-tracked to an uncontrollable type of notoriety without being given the opportunity to consider alternatives.

It's no secret that Zayn didn't love One Direction's sound or his bandmates. "My vision didn't necessarily always go with what was going on within the band," he says. There was something so earnest, so wholesomely dweeby, about the whole thing. It wasn't cool, and Zayn didn't particularly enjoy being dragged around the world to look like an epic dork during the prime of his youth.

When he split off, in 2015, Zayn finally got to do all the things he hadn't been able to in One Direction: dye his hair, grow his beard, sing about sex. But he was also introduced to a fresh army of puppeteers trying to guide him, and he felt disoriented, adrift. The only way to ground himself was to resist the pull of anyone's expectations and answer only to Zayn. He'd spent five years taking direction and had become allergic to it.

There are plenty of clichéd expressions about how toxic and stifling freedom can be, and Zayn experienced many of them when he went solo. "I didn't really, like, make any friends from the band. I just didn't do it. It's not something that I'm afraid to say. I definitely have issues trusting people," he says. When he was living in Los Angeles, aimless, he fell in with a crowd of industry people: "Producers, musicians, tailors, stylists, managers. Them kind of things," he says. "It got too crazy. I just got too much into the party scene. Just going out all the time. And I was too distracted." So he left L.A. permanently and moved to New York earlier this year as a way to bring himself back down to earth.

Running a bit further, he recently bought a farm in rural Pennsylvania on the advice of Yolanda Hadid, who also has a farm there. The farm? "Cool." The state of Pennsylvania? "Cool." If you haven't picked up on it for yourself yet, Zayn loves the word "cool"; he loves it so much that he uses it more than 43 times over the course of our conversation. And now that Zayn likes to go to his farm and visit the Hadids, he and Gigi even have a horse together, named Cool. He's just getting things going on the farm, but already there are crops of cherries, tomatoes, and cucumbers. He likes to ride his ATVs. Sometimes he and Gigi will go at the same time, and she'll ride a horse, like Cool, while he watches.

Zayn has a habit of speaking in a conditioned state of detachment, responding in friendly but anodyne one-liners. Still, even someone who willfully projects this kind of cool two-dimensionalism can get irked from being flattened all the time by those around him. I catch myself flattening him, even when he's right in front of me. When I bring up the deceased Lil Peep, with whom he shared a manager, I say that it's a shame they never met—they seem like kindred spirits who could have made a great song together, or at least bonded over tattoos.

Zayn begins to laugh. "I'm not just going to be friends [with people] because we've both got tattoos. Loads of people come up to me and they're like, 'Yo, I got tattoos, you got tattoos. Let's be friends.' And I'm like… 'We're not just going to be friends because we've both got tattoos.'

"There's a bit more depth to me than that," he says, admonishing me.

One topic that will draw out this aforementioned depth is, unexpectedly, America. Despite the fact that he is living in a country under a leader that is exceptionally hostile to immigrants, the fantasy of America as a come-one, come-all melting pot is alive and well in Zayn's mind. He says he'd vote for Oprah if she ran for office because he likes her "ideologies about the world" and she's a "badass businesswoman."

"The UK is like, Fuck you, you're successful. That's not a nice attitude to have," he says. "You come to America, you're a bit shocked at first: Are these people being genuine? Are they really interested in me? Do they want to have a conversation? But they do! And that's a really nice thing. And I feel like it's misrepresented across the globe. For the kind of country it is, because everybody supports, no matter what color, what gender, what sexuality, what class—none of that matters here. People genuinely want to know you for who you are. And that's how America should be represented across the world."

Watch Now:Zayn Rocks Summer’s Best Swerves

Maybe you should run for office, I say.

"Maybe. It'd be cool. I feel like it's a beautiful place. [Because of the current political climate,] people are expressing how they really feel about where they come from and their heritage and their backgrounds. They're all mixed. To be American, you are mixed.

"So that's how I feel about it—it's a beautiful place, and it's a beautiful time to be alive."

Another unlikely topic that will break Zayn out of his default conversational mode and get him talking in jolting, paragraphs-long monologues: the paparazzi. The paparazzi who have been trailing him for years and, recently, every time he sets foot near Gigi's NoHo apartment, feeding the endless tabloid speculation about the state of their relationship. The paps used to piss Zayn off, until he realized their utility.

"That's my promo," he says. "I come outside, they take photos." He gets to quietly remind people that he exists—and gets photographed looking like the second coming of Johnny Depp, leaving the apartment of one of the most gorgeous women in the world—without doing a thing. "They stay outside and do all the work!" he says. "You can get pissed off about it and be like, 'Yo, this is a hindrance on my life.' Or you can use it for your own benefit and be like, 'Well, if they're going to take the photos, then let them.' You've gotta earn your dollar, and I've gotta earn mine."

Which is to say that just because Zayn loathes the cornball industry churn doesn't mean he needs to surrender his relevance. Zayn represents an era in which underground cool and mass-market, Calabasian-style popularity have collapsed into one another. He operates on a plane where celebrity is predicated chiefly on relevance and intrigue, and Zayn—with his equally illustrious girlfriend, his brooding glare, and his following of millions—has about as much relevance and intrigue as anybody. He is both a casualty and a beneficiary of this uniquely modern form of celebrity. In running from his stardom, he's only fueling it.

I suppose now is the time to dispense with the rest of the intel I gleaned from Zayn about his relationship with Gigi Hadid, which was a less sensitive subject than I had anticipated. The two met at the end of 2015 at a party—which "pah-y," Zayn will not disclose, but suffice it to say it was a "cool pah-y"—and just days later, Zayn learned she'd broken up with Joe Jonas. He reached out to her and asked her to dinner at the Bowery Hotel. And thus was born a couple that will go down in history as one of the most iconic and Zeitgeisty pairings of all time, a couple whose images I will show my grandchildren to prove that the world was better in my day. All of the gossip about their relationship being an opportunistic setup by their respective management is bullshit, Zayn says: "If a relationship is for your career, you can fucking walk out the door. No way. See you later."

Despite the dramatic announcement of their split a couple of months ago, Zayn and Gigi are very much still close, as evidenced by myriad photos of him leaving her apartment or kissing her on the street. Zayn speaks about Gigi in a purely misty-eyed, worshipful tone that telegraphs he may be atoning for something. "I'm really thankful that I met her," he says. He uses the term "we" in the present tense quite a bit: "We go to the farm." "We have horses." The time he actually rode a horse with Gigi, he says, "I looked like a complete idiot and she looked like a complete professional.… We're still really good friends, and we're still in contact," he says. "No bad blood." He laughs. "…Taylor Swift.

"We're adults. We don't need to put a label on it, make it something for people's expectations." To hear Zayn tell it, Gigi is the hyper-organized, clear-headed, and positive counterweight to his disposition, which can dip into a vacant or negative state. She helped him reset his attitude when he was releasing his first solo album, partying too hard. "I had a very negative outlook on things. That might have been adolescence or testosterone or whatever the fuck was running through my body at the time," he says. "She's helped me to look at things from a positive angle."

As Zayn heads into his new album cycle, Gigi has been a font of support and organizational heft. He says she's especially good with dates, which I mishear as "good with debts."

She's good with debts? You're in debt?

"No, no. Dates. She doesn't handle my finances yet," he says. "We'll get to that eventually."

When Zayn Malik went solo, he dropped his last name. The mononymic "Zayn" took on a potency and directness that enabled him to break free from the chains of boy-band drudgery and lameness. Zayn: It's a single syllable that conjures a vaporous sexuality and a moodiness that blurs the line between contemplative and blank. You can imagine the black-and-white commercial for L'Eau de Zayn.

In the years since he dropped his last name, the word "Zayn" has also become, to insiders, an equally potent verb. To "Zayn" means to be within someone's reach one moment and then completely disappear the next without any explanation. Poof! To be "Zayned" is to witness a French exit so aggressive that it almost has a supernatural quality. I know this because it happened to me.

We emerged from the ship's galley, and as I prepared to launch into more conversation, he asked Carolina where he could find the toilets. She pointed him toward a porta-potty on dry land, and Taryn wordlessly followed behind him, obviously accustomed to this ritual. Before I could get my bearings, he was zipping off into the parking lot adjacent to the tanker, no doubt scurrying home to his fortress of solitude and cigarette smoke in SoHo. I'd been Zayned.

We were supposed to hang out the following week, and I patiently waited for him to reach out. But I knew that he never would. And much as I'd like to be the exception to the Laws of Zayn's Nature, I get it. Who among us has never fantasized about blowing off pesky professional obligations we deem useless? Zayn—driven by a spirit that is part self-destruction, part self-preservation, part youthful punk contrarianism—actually has the balls to live that fantasy. It's self-absorbed, immature, and unprofessional. I'd be offended if I didn't think it was so fucking cool.

Carrie Battan is a staff writer for 'The New Yorker' and a contributor to 'GQ'.

An abridged version of this story appeared in the July 2018 issue.

[teehamster]

Christmas Funny Pajamas Let'S Get Lit Christmas Funny Raglan Baseball T Shirt

So this is going to be a Christmas Funny Pajamas Let'S Get Lit Christmas Funny Raglan Baseball T Shirt bit long but bear with me I had what I believe to be a pointless and incredibly frustrating experience with the assistant manager jamie at your auburn hills great lakes crossing location today I have been coming here for three years I frequent your orlando san marcos and new jersey locations as well at least once a year when we stop we usually spend 5 to 10 thousand dollars on your products the system is simple I go in park in a corner and bring bins to my corner sort them bag them move them to the front register and repeat today I brought a personal duffel bag as it holds about 8 to 12 of your bags worth of stuff I get told that i’m not allowed to use it because it’s policy not a big deal at all I say okay i’ll do that for the rest rather than rebag all of this i’ll just go up in line and pay for it and it can sit behind the counter seems pretty reasonable to me nope I got obstructed suggested that I might be stealing something and not allowed to pass stating if I don’t want to follow the system I can leave he then takes my entire duffel dumps it onto the floor and then rebags it into victoria secret bags then moves it to the front counter so it can be rang in I thought this was a little odd but hey he was doing all the work rebagging it so whatever i’m like dude i’m going to be spending about 8k today all I want to do is come in spend some money get out without any drama what’s the problem whoevers in charge should be thrilled with a sale like this we’re spending 8k keep in mind that I told him that I would do what he wanted and it wasnt’ a big deal and the response was to the effect of stop being lippy and just listen I told him what do you want from me I just agreed with you and said I would use your bags i’m not being lippy at all I know this because I said okay dude not a problem i’ll use your bags his response was maybe if you get to buy it i’m like what are you suggesting that an 8 000 order is something you guys don’t want he’s like yeah if you buy it i’m like dude we are spending 8k today why would I bag up a bunch of stuff and spend 2 3 hours picking our your fabulous product to not buy it anyway so I had 4 credit cards one card had 2 000 one had 3500 one had 2000 and one had 1000 because I am buying for multiple people I had 4 different cards all in my name I wanted one receipt for each card not a big deal to me right wrong again he cited some policy and said if the order is more than 750 items that they aren’t allowed to ring in under 750 items on any one receipt id like to point out that that amount is higher than your employees said they could take as a cash payment I asked him to please show me that I would understand better if I could just read it he was willing to do so he brought out the policy book and to my surprise what it actually said was words to the afffect of cash payments cannot be split up or over 750 items I forget the second half my immediate reply was so what’s the big deal im using credit not cash he snatched the policy book away from me at that point and said you know what you can just listen to me or I don’t have to let you buy anything it’s up to my discretion I then called your orlando outlet and your new jersey outlet and talked to the store managers and cited your policy I was given I asked them to confirm if that was accurate and both said if it was a policy it was news to them I then asked if they would let me buy my order using 4 cards and 4 receipts the woman at orlando said oh my gosh yes we do that every single day I asked if I went to her store if I would have any trouble with this in the future and was told no then she said you can always come down here if you’re in the area and i’ll be happy to take your order after that phone call I tried again here’s the video of that attempt I said listen I have 4 credit cards your register girl said you told her she can’t ring up an order under 750 items that’s 3500 if it’s 5 items not all of my cards have that much I have done multiple receipts every time I came here heck I can even supply them to show it he tells me that because I am order so many items that I can’t have less tan 750 items per receipt so I point around to everyone else and ask what about everyone else you aren’t forcing them to spend a minimum of 750 items what about the final charge i’ll have 750 items for two tickets but the leftover isn’t going to be 750 items you’re not going to let me buy them he shrugged his shoulders to say no at this point I haven’t yelled ive been a bit snarky and sarcastic because I know he’s just giving me a hard time two people ring in our order almost every time I am up there and we were there 3 times in the last 6 months spent a bunch each time so at 730 8pm or so we are done shopping assuming that two people could ring us up ended up being a fantasy he forced one employee only to ring us up later on he comes up when its now close to 9pm and says hey you mind if we ring you up on both registers I chuckle and say no I don’t but you do you don’t want to be breaking that 750 rule do you he glared at me and then sent the employee away and walked off after blinking a few times I laugh because after telling me over and over he couldn’t do it he just got caught trying to do what should have been done to begin with a short while later after 9 I find out that everyone is standing uip front except for the one girl and another associate because none of the rest of them are allowed to help her ring us up the only two people left in the store with about 700 more items to be rang in if that’s not enough since it was a holidy all of these employees are apparently being paid overtime to stand around and wait at a bit after 10 all but two girls leave and one girl is waiting to count cash while the other girl sits and keeps ringing stuff in we apologize profusely we expected two employees to ring us up like always and timed our visit to be out around 9 if this had happened instead of having one literally stand there and watch her for 1 hour and 47 minutes after close we would have all been out on time and no overtime or extra hours spent so finally at 10 47 pm our orders are done we thank the lovely girl lauren and jasmine who got stuck staying 2 hours past close because a manager made up some random policy and had to double down when I pointed out he really needed to follow that 750 rule when he was going to toss another girl on the register if this is policy fine it doesn’t seem to be no manager at your other outlets knew what he was talking about the orlando one insisted that the only restrictions are on cash payments and verified I was paying cash or credit it’s a pretty humiliating experience to get hassled trying to buy panties and bras by someone who’s on some type of power trip the only thing I said sideways to him was that I flat out didn’t believe his policy and that credit absolutely is not the same as cash I didnt call him any names scream at him or did anything to disrupt the store beyond what you see in the videos if this is not policy i’d like an apology from that manager in person or over the phone admitting he was mistaken I would hope that the next time I go there I am not hassled but if not I guess there’s always orlando or new jersey who seem to be quite friendly I also want to give recognition to jasmine and lauren lauren is the poor soul who got stuck ringing everything in alone because of the manager’s silly rule and not allowing anyone to help because it would be in violation of the 750 item rule jasmine was the cash counter who had to wait until we were out of the store to count cash even more interesting is that I had a former employee with me helping me buy and she said she never heard of this policy either but it doesn’t mean it wasn’t added since she left she was just as confused because the manager spent over 30 minutes trying to explain and defend this when that time certainly would have been more efficiently spent doing productive things instead of hassling someone who literally sits in a corner and speaks to no one while sorting through your products one bin at a time id love a call back about this or to find out what exactly is going on ive never been hassled like this before and it was a little frustrating and very trying to keep my cool joe rossetti alexandria gunn. 8 1 ptr leveling experience reduced fifth azerite armor ring added raid testing. 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[serenitysought]

CAN YOU TELL US MORE ABOUT CASCADE HILLS? WHAT DOES IT PHYSICALLY LOOK LIKE? THE BUILDINGS? SHOPS? ANY BILLBOARDS? WHAT ARE THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE THERE LIKE? ARE THEY WITH THE CHURCH OR JUST REGULAR CIVILIANS? WHAT WOULD YOU SAY IS THE GENERAL MOOD YOU CAN FEEL WHEN IN THE HILLS, HAPPY AND SAFE? ARE THE RESIDENTS WARY OF VISITORS? SORRY FOR ALL THE QUESTIONS, I’M JUST REALLY INTERESTED IN PAUL’S REGION!

random asks  ||  always accepting.

Cascade Hills is a relatively new region built off to the bottom of John’s region, just  across the  river,  if you look at a map. it  is  much  smaller  than  his  siblings  regions  but  he  doesn’t  mind.  paul  has  never  been  a  leader,  so  becoming  herald  of his  own  region  is  a  bit  nerve wracking.  I have  a  tag  of  cascade hills with a few things in it. ( which will be available once i’m done moving everything ) 

The  landscape  is  filled  with  hills  and  breathtaking  views  that  overlook  lakes. Mountains overlook  the  small  town  nestled  within  small  hills. it’s  name  is  pretty  much  a  perfect  depiction  of   what  it  mostly  consists  of.  there  are  vast  waterfalls  that  are  encompassed  by  lush  greenery  and  lakes  surrounded  by  miles  and  miles  of  wildflowers. there’s  a  bit  of  everything  in  the  region  which  makes  it  a  perfect  place  for  just  about  everyone.

most  of  the  residents  of  cascade  are  the  outcasts  that  don’t  seem  to  fit  anywhere  else  within  the  other  regions.  just  like  paul  himself  they  may  not  agree  with  any of  the  violence  or  the  way  the  rest  of  hope  county  is  run.  they  are  relatively  calm  and  peaceful  just  as  their  leader  or  pick  it  up  from  paul  with  the  help  of  his  guidance. cascade  is  a  fairly  tranquil  environment  and  no  violence  resides  within  it  until  the  resistance  finds  it  later.  

there’s  a  mix  of  those  that  start  out  as  the  outcasts  within  the  church  or  those  that  hear  from  others  about the  peaceful  nature  of  paul.  i  imagine  a  few  civilians  trickle  in  here  or  there,  to  me  it  would  make  sense.   everyone  within  the  hills  loves  paul.  why  wouldn’t  they?  he  listens.  he’s personable.  he’s been in their shoes  more often than not.  paul is a sit with the crowd of his own sermons rather than standing up front as if he’s in that position of power. until the resistance hits, the people there are happy and safe.  they are working towards making the region somewhere they can truly call home and they all work to further the economy within the region.

if  there  are  billboards,  they  are  purely  of  only  sayings  or  ones  that  the  brothers  placed  specifically  for  Paul.  he  wouldn’t  want  his  face  on  any  or  the  attention  that  comes  with  them.  there’s  no  bar since his sobriety means most to him. no one seems to care though.  they are content their own worlds and creating their own small businesses.  there’s the typical general store,  bait shop ( since cascade is filled with fishing spots ) ,  

the medical facility is small but functional.   a coffee shop sits on a corner that sells homemade pies along with its coffee.  paul goes there for the pie since he doesn’t drink coffee but they always have his favorite tea ready to go when he comes in.  a  small  church  is  within  walking distance of the coffee shop. it stays vacant for a little while unless paul is giving a sermon BUT it’s too stuffy for him. he’d rather be outdoors in a field.

i think the people would be wary of visitors especially if they know what is going on outside cascade.  but paul tries to make them feel at ease the best that he can. he’s there to watch over them.  help them find their own paths and hopefully best ensure their entry through eden’s gate should that day every arrive.

[astrodances]

Nothing Fancy

FF.net link 
AO3 link

Merry Christmas and Happy Christmas Truce to @playerpiano-la​! I’m your Secret Santa! Your request for “amethyst ocean or anything having to do with dani” was like a blank check to me, and boy, did I cash in. As a result, here’s some fluffy platonic Tucker and Dani (with a dash of the lovebirds)! I hope you enjoy!

Tucker was thrilled that it was finally Friday night.

After one of the most grueling weeks ever at school, coupled with ghost patrol every night, he'd circled Friday all for himself. He had the house to himself for the weekend, his friends were busy, and he had not one, but two new video games waiting by the TV. This was going to be good.

Or so he thought until his phone buzzed next to him on the couch. New text message.

"Ding-dong!"

Tucker didn't recognize the contact number, and was even more confused by the message itself until the doorbell echoed the text. Curiously, he got up and wandered from the living room to the front door.

"Dani?" he asked after opening it.

The younger halfa stood out on the porch nonchalantly, her hands stuffed in the pockets of her hoodie. "Hey, Tucker!"

He opened the door wider, letting light from the house spill out onto her. He looked down at his phone then back up at her and asked, "Did you just text me?"

Dani gave him a dorky smile. "Ding-dong!" she confirmed, then shrugged. "Got a new phone."

Making a mental note to add her new number to her contact later, Tucker nodded. Dani had gotten quite a few life upgrades ever since the Fentons adopted her a month ago. He was glad to see that tech was included in the deal. "Awesome, man!" He leaned against the doorframe. "Anyway, not that I'm not happy to see you, but what are you doing here?"

Another shrug. "Eh, Danny and Sam are having a 'date night'-" She added extra emphasis with air quotes. "-at our place. Took over the entire living room. And I didn't want to be a third wheel, so...I came to see if you wanted to hang out?" She looked up at him hopefully.

Without a second thought, Tucker answered, "Sure!" His solo game night could wait, as much as he wanted to play. He knew all too well the feeling of being third wheel to Sam and Danny, date night or not, and he wouldn't let Dani fall victim to that. He stepped aside to let her in, sweeping his arm in a grand gesture. "Enter if you dare."

Dani slugged him on the shoulder with a laugh as she walked in. "Thanks!" After taking off her shoes at the door, she asked, "So...what were you doing before?"

"Just was gonna play some games. Nothing fancy." He nodded towards the living room TV. Granted it would've been fancy to him, being a new game and all, but as far as his free nights went it'd been shaping up to be pretty typical.

She walked around the couch and picked up one of the game cases laying on the coffee table before squealing. "Oooh! You got the new Mario Kart?!" She reached down for the other case then glanced at him. "Can I play?"

Tucker seemed surprised. He didn't peg Dani as the gamer-type, but then again he hadn't with Sam either, and he learned his lesson the hard way there. And at least this way, he'd still get to play tonight. Mario Kart was better multiplayer, after all.

"You're on!" He smirked, then set up the game as Dani got comfortable on the couch.

The two dueled it out with their digital personas for a couple of hours. They lost track of who had the most wins, but neither refused to admit defeat. At some point, Dani stretched her arms out and leaned back into the couch.

"Dude, I'm hungry," she stated.

"Same." Tucker had barely spared a thought to anything else while playing, but now he noticed the hunger kicking in.

Dani looked over at him. "I think Nasty Burger's still open."

He nodded. "It is, but I don't really wanna go out." He looked at the clock on the shelf next to the TV. It was already 11:17.

"Aw, come on. We can get it to-go. It'll be a fun adventure!" She sat back up, a renewed pep in her eyes.

There was a moment's hesitation, then a sigh and, "Fine. But you're buying."

"Nuh-uh." Dani held up her remote. "We'll play for that. One more race, loser buys."

"Ugh, you and Danny, I swear..." Tucker grumbled, side-eyeing the female carbon-copy of his best friend.

Within a few minutes, Tucker wound up victorious. He pumped his fists in the air, snickering as Dani yelled at the TV. Her attempt to sabotage him with a blue shell had failed.

"You suck!" Dani joked.

He just stood up triumphantly and threw his controller to the side. "Let me just grab my jacket and keys, and then we'll go so you can pay up."

A pillow met the back of his head as he started up the stairs.

"Since when did you get your license?" Dani was watching Tucker climb into his car, unsure whether she should actually get in herself.

"Since like...four months ago. I just don't drive too much since pretty much everything's close by." He hesitated, then glanced at her. "What? You afraid?"

Dani glared at him, sticking her tongue out. "Only if your real driving is as crazy as it is in Mario Kart."

Tucker rolled his eyes. "As long as you don't throw another blue shell, I think we'll be okay," he teased, which earned a scoff. "Hop in!"

Dani got in, mentally preparing to phase out of the car at a moment's notice should his driving get hairy. But the thought of food soon took over as they rolled down the street. She rolled down her window and stuck out her hand, letting the cool night air whip by it.

They took their time getting to Nasty Burger, since they weren't in any real rush. Tucker had some music playing low on the car's speakers, and Dani would point out weird signs every so often. Only Amity Park would have cheerful billboards about ghosts on every block.

When they finally got to the restaurant, there were just a couple other cars in the parking lot. Nothing fancy, just another late night for the employees as people stopped by for a quick bite. But Dani and Tucker carried in a lively good mood that even made the cashier break into a smile.

Tucker ordered first.

"I'll get two double-doubles, fries, and a large Coke." He looked to his right and held out his hand. "Danielle?"

Dani elbowed him as she stepped forward, laughing when he groaned. "I'll have the same, but with a chocolate shake instead."

The cashier rang up their total, then looked up expectantly as she told them the price.

Dani begrudgingly started to pull her wallet out, but Tucker stopped her with a hand on her arm. "Just put it on Daniel Fenton's tab. He'll be here tomorrow," he explained.

The cashier shrugged and took note of the payment in the system, then went back to the kitchen to help with the order.

"Not that I have a problem with making Danny pay, but why?" Dani questioned. "I lost the game."

Tucker shrugged innocently as they walked over to a table to wait for their food. "Eh, you guys have the same name. Technicalities." He winked at her. Plus, he saw it as a sort of payback for Danny making Dani feel like a third wheel, but he wouldn't tell her that. He had her back.

After they got their food, they walked back out to Tucker's car. Dani drank happily from her milkshake, leaping from one parking block to the next with just the slightest help of her flying ability to make each jump last. There was something about the cold air that was making her extra happy.

"Maaaan, I love midnight food trips!" she exclaimed loudly.

Tucker smiled. So did he, and he was glad she made him go out. "They're the best!" he agreed.

When they got back in the car, he settled in for a moment, snagging a couple of fries from his bag as he considered what was next. "So hey. I'm guessing Danny and Sam are still having their date night. Wanna just spend the night at my place? We can play more games and watch some movies?"

"I'm down!" Dani nodded. "Can we just stop by Fenton Works so I can sneak in and grab some stuff?"

"Can do!"

Tucker made quick work of the drive to Fenton Works, parking by the house next door so as to not accidentally interrupt his friends. He kept the car on to keep their food warm while Dani snuck around the side of the building, flew up, and phased into her room. It was a couple of minutes before she came back down with an overnight back slung over her shoulder. Instead of getting back in the car though, she hovered near the driver's window, which Tucker rolled down.

"What's up?"

Dani's eyes were deviously green. "Danny and Sam are still downstairs, doing their cute-gross cuddly thing," she explained, before reaching into her bag and pulling out two dart guns. "I wanna prank 'em."

Even though her smile was scaring him right then, and he didn't even know what the plan was, Tucker couldn't help but agree. "I'm so in."

After explaining her plan, Dani gave Tucker one of the dart guns and grabbed onto his arm to phase him through the front door. She kept them invisible once inside, positioning themselves right next to the TV. They watched the couple cuddling on the couch for a few minutes, waiting for the right moment to strike. Finally, Danny looked over at Sam and pulled her in for a kiss.

POP!

Before their lips could meet, two foam darts smacked into their cheeks. Sam shrieked in surprise, and Danny swore a Fenton's curse, jumping up out of instinct. Before they could figure out what hit them, Dani yanked Tucker out of the house within seconds, keeping them invisible until they were back in the car.

"Go, go, go!" Dani commanded while catching her breath.

Tucker started his car and booked it down the road, turning at the first available corner. Adrenaline kept his foot on the pedal. He didn't slow down until they were at least a good mile away from Fenton Works. By that time, they were both doubling over with laughter.

"Dude, did you see Sam's face? I haven't seen her that scared since we first started fighting ghosts!"

"Right? And I thought Danny was gonna break out a Fenton Bazooka!"

They continued to laugh without a care in the world, until Dani's phone rang. She pulled it out of her pocket and checked the caller ID.

"Damn, it's Danny! He wants to video chat. Play it cool," she said, waving her hand towards Tucker to stifle his giggles. She slid her finger across her screen and held the phone up to answer. "Hey cuz, what's up?"

Danny gave her the evil eye. "Where are you?"

"I'm hanging out with Tucker, remember?" She pointed her phone towards the driver's seat. "See?"

"Hey, dude!" Tucker waved at the camera, before watching the road again.

"Uh huh...and why are you guys out right now?"

Dani rolled her eyes. "Jeez, mom. We were just getting some food at the Nasty Burger." To make her point, she picked up her milkshake and took a sip. "Why?"

"So you wouldn't happen to know why these-" Danny held up the two darts in his hand. "-just hit Sam and I in the face?"

"Nope."

"Nuh-uh." Tucker kept his eyes firmly on the road, trying to keep his voice level.

Danny sighed, then spoke away from his phone. "It wasn't them, Sam. I'm gonna search the house just in case. If this was Youngblood, I swear..." He shook his head then turned back. "Well, you guys have fun with your food. See ya later."

"Later!" Dani couldn't hang up fast enough. As soon as the call ended she burst into laughter, Tucker joining her. "Oh my god, he's a Fenton through and through!"

"No kidding! Ha, we got them good!" He held up a fist across the center console, which she bumped triumphantly.

The rest of the ride back to Tucker's was spent in good spirits. He cranked up the volume on his radio, and the two sang and danced along to "24K Magic." Dani even rolled her window back down to yell out, "24 karat magic in the aaaaaaaiiir!" She smirked when she heard dogs barking in response.

Magic indeed.

[lazywriter7]

So I’ve been working on this in fits and starts for a while, and am offering this to the void for the inspiration to keep going. Tell me if you think I should XP For @ishipallthings glorious prompt over on the old imzy comm positively aeons ago:  “you’re supposed to be on a blind date with someone but you sat down at the wrong table and i haven’t been able to get a word in edgewise to tell you that and it’s been thirty minutes” au

The café was nothing noteworthy in itself, casual and breezy with a couple of tables set out in the sun, shaded by parasols looming overhead; and some more set up in the interior with mismatched chairs for those who liked to really breathe in the scent of caffeine in the morning.

It reminded Steve of a dollhouse, really – a real-size replica of a model manufactured by the thousands, with its pastel chintz tablecloths and lacquer floorboards. A stock establishment to be found in any tourist-y hotspot, perfectly inoffensive, nothing particularly memorable. And wasn’t that true of nearly every place he’d strayed into in this modern age…chains, people called them, establishments rolled out by rote, based on one formula. No space for variation. Even the creative little ‘quirks’ in design and aesthetic were pre-planned, and duplicated in a hundred other stores of the same ‘brand’ in the country. No space for a personal touch. No pub down the road with a frame of the owner’s prizewinning stallion in pride of place over the mantelpiece, and genial ol’ Mr Garcia bragging about the Triple Crown win of ’29.

But people these days didn’t care too much for that, did they. Maybe Steve wasn’t such a cheap date after all. Even if the café was on the ground floor of Stark Tower.

He’d been lingering on the outskirts of the place for over fifteen minutes now, more than the time it took for him to ‘get ready’ and zoom down the elevator from his apartment combined. JARVIS had told him he’d had a cowlick at the back of his head in said elevator; Steve had licked his palm and flattened it down on reflex. That had been the extent of his vanity – he was in his usual khakis-and-button-down combo, and it was only as he fidgeted with the leaves of the potted geraniums on the café exterior for the umpteenth time that it registered that maybe Natasha wouldn’t be all too pleased with his ‘efforts’.

“Give this one a chance, Steve. An honest chance.”

Contrary to outward appearances, he was…. trying, alright? It was just that Natasha kept tossing the names of people he scarcely even remembered, forget developed an actual interest in, his way and he was too busy reflexively ducking to actually consider any of them with seriousness and this metaphor had escaped from him three phrases back but damn if he was going to give up without a fight.

It was all just too reminiscent of a sly brown-eyed stare, a jostle of the shoulder, “c’mon Rogers, one hour down at the hall, no one’s gonna step on you, I swear Abbie is a really sweet gal−” and even putting aside how well those times had gone, it just left Steve with an indistinct ache in the pit of his stomach and rapid, wet-eyed blinking. He didn’t want to be set up. He didn’t want new people to ‘spice up’ his life. Why was that so hard to grasp?

But chapter five of How to Get Out of Your Mind and Start Living insisted that the support of his current friends and…family, was ‘key’. That people had sources of help all around them, all they needed to do was tap into that concern and care and be helped. And Natasha did care for him, and demonstrated it in a way she so rarely did; Steve would be an ungrateful sod to not appreciate the value of that. So he was going to walk into this café with an open mind and…whatever would happen thereon, would happen.

He pushed open the door without much fanfare for all the lingering he had been doing, fingers leaving smudges on the foggy glass. Autumn was approaching and there was a nip in the air; most of the café’s patrons had a thin cardigans or jackets draped over their chairs, or a scarf winding around pale necks. The contrast between temperatures was palpable; the air inside was warm and toasty (literally so, Steve could separate out the smells of at least three different flavours of bagels crackling as they were heated, fragrances bright and crystalline sharp). Not many of the glossy wooden tables were unoccupied – it was evidently quite the popular haunt and Steve could…get why, despite all his uncharitable thoughts in the beginning.

Chapter Two: The Importance of a Positive Outlook. Always think of the brightest outcome possible before entering a situation. Something out of one of those romantic comedies Bruce liked to put on as background noise, maybe. A bright-eyed girl who taught kindergarten in the day and worked in a puppy shelter by night, who was more or less indifferent to the Avengers, who by some miracle of fate liked Steve…yep, that seemed about right. Five dates on, he’d tearfully propose, she’d joyfully accept, they wouldn’t have sex till the wedding night, and after a brief honeymoon in the Pocono Mountains which she’d of course agree to because she adored his precious little forties foibles like that – they’d retire peacefully in a house with a picket fence. Or you know, move in a matchbox high-rise apartment because Stark would probably evict them due to his moral objection to the institution of marriage, and then they’d get a dog who only got walked up and down the stairs and put their names two years in advance for daycare. Marital bliss, hallelujah.

Steve knuckled the bridge of his nose wearily. Yeah, this ‘imagine the brightest outcome’ thing was going smashingly.

He dropped his fingers, shoving them into the pockets of his khakis with ease (modern jeans with all their rivets were so inconvenient, how on earth was one supposed to fit anything into those tiny pockets?) Scanned through the scattered milieu of people already seated at different tables. Positive outcome, positive outcome. Pretty girl with ‘wife and family’ branded across her forehead like a billboard, yep yep…

Or, you know. Tony Stark with his nose hidden behind a menu card. That worked too.

I didn’t know cafes had menu cards, was the first thought to dart, tiny and petrified, through the massacred battlefield that was Steve’s mind. All sanity, come here to die. The second thought was, it’s just like that song – which was ridiculous because Steve and Stark had never even batted their eyelashes at each other affectionately, forget being in a full-blown relationship, and Pina Colada had undertones of infidelity that Steve was uncomfortable with anyway−

Liar. You love that song. Natasha crowed in his head in a very Natasha like way, which meant she stated it with an impassive face and subtly smug voice, eyes gleaming knowingly. Which was moot, because this was nothing like Pina Colada, even if Steve knew the curve of the face that Stark was hiding under that maroon scarf, eyes attentively studying the glossy white card before him.

Steve stood frozen in place for what seemed like minutes on end, mind grappling with this…entirely unforeseen set of circumstances. Tony Stark. Sitting…entirely innocently in a café in his own Tower, yeah that made sense, except all the ways in which it didn’t. Not in the least because Stark’s espresso machines could blow this place out of the water in mere seconds, because Stark prized efficiency as well as quality in his coffees, as he liked to declaim to them at breakfast every now and then.

So yeah. Tony Stark, sitting in a café where Steve was supposed to be meeting his blind date. That was…quite the situation. The only question remained: what was Steve going to do about it?

And that was where Steve had to blink, and shake his head internally – because when had he last made that kind of choice? Everything he dealt with in his day-to-day life these days, he was always…reactionary. The flinch of unease at every new thing he had to accustom himself to, every remnant of something old that made nostalgia jar sharp and painful in his ribcage. He never thought about anything, much anymore. It was all just a roiling wave of emotion that Steve had resigned himself to ride out, except it never really ebbed; just tossed and turned till Steve shook with the weariness of it all. Shook and buckled his shoulders against a storm that never seemed to pass.

But here he stood, caught in indecision, watching black spiking up at the back of a tanned neck, like Stark had kept his head tightly covered by the grey hood of the jacket he was sporting, only to release it in the coffee-scented air of the café and static-fuzzy hair sprung up in response, wild and liberated. No first date efforts taken there, either.

The thought coaxed a mindless smile to his lips, even as Steve waited for the wave to come. That instinctive rush of distaste, unease. Irritation at Nat for the ploy, anything at all. The urge to turn around and leave, the advice of self-help books be damned.

A woman brushed past his shoulders on her way to the door; Steve stepped forward instinctively to clear the path, and then his feet kept moving, forward and forward while his mind churned in a manner that oddly wasn’t that unpleasant.

“Give this one a chance, Steve.”

Natasha thought this was a good idea. And Stark had to have agreed to this in order to be here. Sure, it was technically a blind date…but when was the last time that Tony Stark had gone into a situation blind? Without extensive research, all information available stored somewhere in that genius head of his…”since when did you become an expert on thermonuclear astrophysics? Last night.” Stark wouldn’t agree to spend half an hour of his precious time on a date without knowing their bank account details and name of their favourite highschool teacher.

Unless he’s sleeping with them. Apparently, he’s done that without even knowing their name, aaaand Steve jerked himself away from that particular train of thought quick, neck warming up slightly. The conclusion was: it was uncharacteristic of Tony Stark to go on something as innocuous as a date without prior research. The man was perennially, fatally curious. And it wasn’t like it would be a hard thing for him to pull off anyway – he had access to the feeds of the common areas through JARVIS, spying on the conversation where Nat finally wheedled Steve into a date was very much in the realm of possibility.

So. Tony Stark knew he was going on a date with Steve and he…agreed. Steve wasn’t quite sure how he felt about that. And wasn’t that interesting?

Steve was now close enough to spot the long fingers that Stark (Tony, Steve tested cautiously at the back of his mind, something almost exhilarated in the inflection, Tony) wrapped around his coffee mug, workshop grime sticking under his nails. The vee of his unzipped jacket revealed the soft black cotton of a tee, peeking amidst the fraying maroon threads of a scarf lazily looped over his collarbones. Dark stonewash jeans, folded untidily over a pair of Converse, with loosely knotted, muddy grey laces trailing over the polished lacquer of the floor.

Steve picked out these fragments in slow, careful detail, back of his neck growing steadily warmer all the while. “Pretty positive outcome, heh.” Bucky’s voice drawled in his mind, strangely free of the shackles of regretful memory, and Steve bit into his lower lip, feeling the thin skin crack under his incisor. This was veering from ‘interesting’ to a whole new category altogether.

Because the idea of Sta−of Tony being amenable to something between them…what could that mean? Tony was smart-mouthed and arrogant and inconsiderate− except wasn’t it just that he spat quick-formed insults and clever references at Steve, and he arrogantly lifted his goateed chin and looked down his nose in condescension at Steve and spoke blunt and sharp in equal measure, regardless of Steve’s plans and opinions and feelings and…what was Steve’s hostility going to stand on, if Tony wasn’t going to be hostile towards him at all?

If he possibly…liked Steve?

Two steps away, enough to see that Tony had read through the same line perhaps a half-dozen times and was now quite possibly debating the differences between Helvetica and Helvetica Bold. 

Steve cleared his throat.

                                                                                   ~to be continued

[neverisalongtime-ja-blog]

Chapter 9: I’ve wanted this for so long

Attention this chapter may cause blushing.

Here it is, chapter 9 already! Time flies you guys.

I hope you enjoy reading it as I did writing it. Don't forget the feedback!

Remember to follow Anastasia on Instagram because I have no life.

Anastasia_Truman

Much love to you all! ❤️️

--------------------------------------------

Read chapter 8

Weather in New York was perfect: not too hot but not cold yet. A car picked the Truman sisters up to take them to a luxurious hotel.

-          So whose idea was it? – Anastasia told her sister while they were stuck in traffic – To have you on the video?

-          Who do you think? – She answered smiling.

-          Tony, of course.

Her sister didn’t say a thing but the answer was obvious. Anthony and Barbara had a strange relationship. They were definitely friends, they have been for at least 20 years, and an obvious attraction was always around. Before Barbara got married, 12 years ago, they kind of tried to be together but it never worked; now that Barbara was divorced they were on at it again.

-          I know that I’m never going to have a serious relationship with him. I mean, I love him to death, he is one of my best friends but I know who he is and why his relationships don’t work. However I deserve to have fun too, even more after the horrible divorce and Tony is the perfect man to do it with.

-          I wish I could be half the chill you are – Anastasia said.

-          You overthink everything. You need life to flow; the Universe will give you what you want. Who told you about this anyway?

-          Josh – Anastasia cuddled with her sister in the back seat – He wanted to see me.

-          And do you want to see him?

-          Barb, I took a flight in a fucking tiny plane at six in the morning to come to New York. Yes I want to see him – Barbara laughed.

-          Josh is a really nice guy and you should give yourself an opportunity.

-          You sound like Mandy.

After what seemed like years they got into their hotel and checked into a double room. Barbara knew that only Anastasia was going to sleep there.

After a long shower and a quick change of clothes, the girls went to the video set. Although Barbara didn’t have to film until the next day she thought it was a good idea to come by and say hi. They were on a room with a Saturday-Night-Fever-style dance floor. Anthony and Flea were there looking like characters from the movie. The sisters laughed and hugged each one of the guys.

-          This reminds me of my youth – Barbara said.

-          I know, it’s going to be a fun video – Anthony said.

-          If you put “Staying Alive” I swear that Barbara and I know all the moves – Anastasia said looking at the illuminated dance floor.

-          We should have a dance off – Chad said appearing from behind the girls and hugging them – Me and Anthony and you two.

-          It’s on. But you go first – Barbara said unable to stop laughing.

There was no turning back. “Thank God the place is empty”, Anastasia thought. While Chad and Anthony made themselves look like fools, the girls looked like idiots too but they did it with grace so Flea choose them to win the “Saturday Night Fever Dance Off”. After sharing an applause, Anastasia saw Josh sitting on a corner laughing, it was obvious he saw her dancing disco style with her sister; she mended her dignity and went straight to him.

-          Well, you always find me making a fool of myself – She said hugging him.

-          That victory was obvious – Josh said.

-          I say recount the votes – Anthony screamed from across the room and everyone started laughing.

-          I’m glad you came – Josh said looking Anastasia into her eyes.

-          I’m glad you invited me.

-          It’s great you just can get into a plane and go to wherever place you want.

-          A privilege just a few have – she remembered the thoughts she had about Carrie after he invited her to New York.

-          Listen, we are going to do a bunch of takes tonight until late, but tomorrow I have time off after filming some more, why don’t you and I have dinner tomorrow? There is a monstrous milkshake place I want to try.

-          You mentioned food so I have to accept.

When Anastasia woke up the next day she was alone in the hotel room, her sister left a message on her phone saying that she was going to film her scenes for the Red Hot Chili Peppers video and that gave Anastasia plenty of time to do some shopping alone and in peace at New York. She wanted to find something special for tonight’s date and she did, she found a dark blue short dress with long sleeves, it wasn’t tight so it didn’t look tacky she pair it up with black ankle boots covered in silver stars with high heels, a pony tail and red lips completed the look. This time Josh went to get her to the room.

-          Red lips uh? – He said with a huge smile.

-          For a change – She answered – You like it?

-          I like it all – He said looking at her from head to toe. Her face turned red – I know I told you we were going for milkshakes but I thought that we should visit a fancier place.

-          That’s why you’re wearing a tux? – She said – I like the cap, it’s a nice touch – he was wearing a New York Yankees black cap.

-          I’m wearing just the tux jacket – he answered laughing.

Anastasia agreed and soon they were walking through the streets of New York. The place wasn’t far away from their hotel and a proper New York walk was a must every time Anastasia visited the city. Suddenly Josh stopped.

-          Is that you? – He said looking at a big billboard up their heads.

-          Yes – Anastasia said ashamed. It was a fashion advertisement that Mandy and her did earlier that year – Mandy is all about fashion so brands search for her for campaigns and sometimes she drags me into them too.

-          You look amazing there – Josh said but Anastasia noticed he didn’t show a lot of enthusiasm for the billboard.

Soon they entered a very elegant restaurant, full of details and typical chic New Yorkers, the reserved table was out of sight.

-          You really like hidden tables – she said taking a seat.

-          I just like to enjoy food in peace – he answered.

-          We really should do something besides eating once in a while - Anastasia said.

-          I thought about that and Eric told me you are a huge Broadway fan so I’m taking you to see Hamilton tonight – Anastasia was perplexed.

-        �� Shut up! There aren’t tickets available until next year – She said – Not even Barbara could find them!

-          Well I guess we have a very diligent assistant – He said smiling.

-          I always wanted to be in Broadway, it’s one of my frustrated dreams but I’m not good at acting at all, the singing I got it covered, the dancing well… you saw it yesterday, the acting two thumbs down to that. I auditioned for a couple of musicals but didn’t get it.

-          You push yourself so far.

-          What do you mean?

-          You do so many things.

-          I don’t know, I guess I like arts and everything that has to do with them, even musical theater.

-          I must warn you that we aren’t going alone tonight; Chad and his wife are going to join us.

-          That’s fine. Nancy is one of Barbara’s best friends and I’m super close to Chad so, it’s okay.

After eating some fish, drinking some wine and having a very lovely conversation about baseball, because both of them were really huge sports fans, the two walked to the theater where Chad and Nancy were waiting, they shared a hug and entered to see the show. Nobody spoke a word during the musical; everyone was captivated by the story. After it ended Chad and Nancy were planning on going to have dinner, and since Anastasia and Josh already did that, they excused themselves and walked back to their hotel. Josh asked Anastasia to come to his room and, once again, she couldn’t refuse.

His room was located in one of the highest floors, of course, with a great view of the Big Apple.

-          Somehow we always end in a hotel room – Anastasia said sitting on a big couch.

-          Maybe it’s destiny – Josh said taking a seat next to her. She felt her face turn red again.

She felt the impulse to get closer to him, maybe it was his half smile which made him look incredible sexy or maybe it was his brown and illuminated eyes which made him look tender. She was going to jump into this bottomless abysm and only time would tell her how to get out.

He placed a hand in her waist and another in her neck while hers moved through his back without stopping the kisses. She didn’t drink that much but she felt it was impossible to try to control herself; probably the same went through Josh mind. She managed to take Josh’s jacket off and somehow sat on top of him. In a break to take some air Josh stopped her and looked into her eyes.

-          What? – Anastasia looked back at Josh – Now you have red lips – She said trying to clean them a bit while both laughed.

-          Are you sure? – He said. She understood what he meant and only nodded. He smiled - I’ve wanted this for so long – He kissed her just to separate lips a few seconds after. Then he looked again straight to her big turquoise eyes – I’ll be gentle – And he gave her a naughty half smile.

After a long kissing session in the living room they moved into the bedroom, where after months of doubt Anastasia felt she never was more right about a decision before. Josh made her feel safe and warm, made her feel unique and made her feel things no other man had achieved before. She only hoped she had the same effect in him and by his gestures on his face she thought it was safe to affirm it. It was a long night; they almost saw the first rays of light slip through the panoramic windows that surrounded the bedroom. It was the best night she had in years. At the end they didn’t say a word to each other, their eyes spoke for them and after a couple of kisses they fell asleep in a hug.

At morning Anastasia woke up a little bit confused, she looked around the room and then saw Josh sleeping next to her without a shirt on. For reasons unknown panic took over her mind and trying to not wake him up, she grabbed her clothes that were spread all over the floor and got out the room.

She got into her own room where Barbara was nowhere to be seen. Her bed was made and her things in the same exact position as yesterday. It was clear she didn’t spend the night there either. She took a shower and called Mandy.

-          What’s up? – Mandy answered through the phone.

-          Are you alone? – Anastasia asked.

-          No, I’m with Eric packing instruments for Chicago while you are spending all your money on Fifth Saks Avenue. And you are on speaker by the way.

-          Hi An! – Eric’s voice was heard.

-          Oh God! – Anastasia started – It happened.

-          What happened? – Mandy asked.

-          With Josh! It happened!

-          WHAT? – Both voices said at the same time.

-          When? - Mandy asked.

-          Last night.

-          But it’s damn early. Is he there?

-          No. I ran away!

-          ANASTASIA! - Both voices said at the same time again.

-          I know but I freaked out! Damn anxiety! – She heard her friends laughing loudly.

-          I can’t believe this! – Eric said without stopping the laugh.

-          Go back to his room, An! – Mandy said.

-          I can’t! That would be more stupid.

-          What you did is already very stupid – In that moment Anastasia’s phone received a second call.

-          Somebody is calling. I’ll call you back in a second.

-          Probably it’s him, asking if you fuck and leave – Mandy said without stop laughing.

Her friend was right, it was Josh calling. Anastasia took a deep breath and answered.

-          So are you going to disappear every time I kiss you? – Josh asked and Anastasia noticed he wasn’t angry at all.

-          Well, that was more than kissing and I wanted to get a shower.

-          I have a shower here.

-          Yes but my clean clothes are here.

-          Right. Want to join me for breakfast? I’ll call room service.

-          Sure. I will be there in a minute.

She hung up. The images of last night were stuck in her head and created a big smile on her face. A smile she was going to carry for days.

Read chapter 10

[ladystylestores]

Unpacking How Karl Lagerfeld’s 2004 H&M Collaboration Changed Fashion – WWD

https://pmcwwd.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/060612-ww-karlnew-1.jpg?w=640&h=415&crop=1

“It would have been super easy for Karl to say ‘no.’ The surprise was that he said ‘yes,’” Caroline Lebar, the late Karl Lagerfeld’s longtime communications director, marveled this week, recalling that day in 2004 when the designer agreed to design a one-off collection for low-cost Swedish fashion chain H&M.

“Cheap” had a real sting then, and Lagerfeld silenced it, making the incredulity of a collaboration between one of the world’s most acclaimed couturiers and a mass-market chain a leitmotif of an unforgettable advertising video. “Is it true?” a plump, indignant man shouted to Lagerfeld across a crowded restaurant when he learns of the tie-up. “Of course it’s true,” Lagerfeld shoots back. “But it’s cheap,” the man implores. “What a depressing word. It’s all about taste,” Lagerfeld replies dryly. “If you’re cheap, nothing helps.”

The chance to buy $49 blouses and $129 sequined tuxedo jackets from one of the most famous designers on the planet not only unleashed retail pandemonium — it had a seismic effect on the entire fashion system: breaking down barriers between luxury and mass; democratizing design in a new way, and foreshadowing an era of rampant collaborations, drops and pop-up concepts.

It would also catapult the image of H&M, creating a new annual selling bonanza that endures still, and it would ultimately inspire the template for Lagerfeld to relaunch his brand in 2012 in the then-burgeoning “masstige” zone, convinced his sweet spot was affordable clothing for a wide audience.

The big bang that the Lagerfeld for H&M project unleashed is also a reminder that instinct and daring should not be underestimated — or discarded in an era of influencer marketing, big data and AI.

Lebar said Lagerfeld kept an eye on everything, was always open-minded and rarely said “no” by reflex. While he had never visited an H&M store himself, the designer noticed young people in his studio wearing its clothes, and he knew it eclipsed all other fashion brands in terms of its mighty distribution network, then numbering about 1,000 stores in 19 countries.

“The surprise at that time came from a fast-fashion brand, so we should be very careful about what could be next,” she mused.

Lebar stressed that H&M was a “personal project” not associated with Lagerfeld’s signature fashion business, then operating under the Lagerfeld Gallery moniker with an ultra-exclusive, rarefied approach to ready-to-wear headquartered at one boutique on Rue de Seine in Paris.

Yet the designer reasoned that a sketch for a Chanel couture dress, Fendi fur coat, Lagerfeld Gallery blazer or H&M shirt involved the same process, cost and effort — the design component being the most important. He proved “that fast-fashion can also be creative,” Lebar said.

“Karl had never done mass market — and he loved a challenge,” recalled Eric Pfrunder, who worked closely with Lagerfeld on all his photography and collaborations. “He proved he could do an elegant line, but less expensive. I still have the shirts he made for H&M.”

The H&M project magnified Lagerfeld’s fame, as he based the coed range on his emphatic and graphic personal style, hinged on high-collared shirts and lean black tailoring. H&M even included his fingerless driving gloves and a T-shirt bearing a sketch of his face.

A t-shirt part of the collection  Courtesy of H&M

Margareta van den Bosch, creative adviser at H&M and Lagerfeld’s key contact there, said the collaboration with the designer replaced what was typically an underwear campaign for November.

“It was something really new. Karl understood that, and he was the first one,” she said in an interview this week. “We learned a lot from this collaboration.”

Van den Bosch said the teaser campaign, including billboards featuring Lagerfeld and model Erin Wasson, was an innovative element that propelled swift sellouts.

Not only did H&M learn that it was best to launch such designer capsules in fewer stores, it ultimately gave the chain the confidence to flex its own design muscles, launching its own Studio and Conscious collections, the former with big Paris runway shows, alongside the high-profile collaborations.

“Now we have different price levels in our stores,” van den Bosch said. Meanwhile, H&M soldiers on with its annual holiday collaboration and will reveal its 2020 one soon.

Margareta van den Bosch and Karl Lagerfeld  Courtesy of H&M

“The press is maybe a little tired of it. The customer is not. Nobody wants it to stop,” she said.

A lesser known, yet pivotal figure in the groundbreaking collaboration was art director Donald Schneider, who now runs his own creative agency in Berlin. Here, his account of the project, and how it changed the fashion world:

WWD: Can you recount how it all happened?

Donald Schneider: I still remember it all very clearly — those adrenaline-pumping nine months in 2004, working day and night with Karl and H&M helping to give birth to that legendary first designer collaboration.

At that time my creative agency, Donald Schneider Studio, was based in Paris and H&M was one of our clients for whom I was regularly art directing campaigns. I liked what they stood for, always thinking so big and modern, and their inspiring legacy of outstanding campaigns.

So one day in late 2003 I was in Stockholm again for meetings with H&M, having lunch with the-then marketing director Jörgen Andersson and the-then creative director Janne Nord. They were mentioning that this same morning they had received the results of an extensive survey on H&M by a respected consulting firm and that its conclusion was that H&M should surprise with a big new idea.

That challenge instantly tickled my mind and I spontaneously came up with an idea: How about inviting a high-fashion designer to design a special collection for H&M and create a surprising campaign around that? That would generate a buzz around a collection in a totally new way by putting the big name behind that, instead of H&M’s regular supermodel-in-the-campaign approach. They were completely surprised by this idea. Back then it was unthinkable to mix these two completely separate worlds — high fashion and retail.

A few days later Andersson called me and said that he very much liked my idea and that H&M wants to go for it. This was amazing news! In order to create a bombshell, I proposed we should try to get the king of high fashion, Karl Lagerfeld. Jörgen agreed. So I called Karl and asked him if he knows H&M — “Of course, all my assistants are wearing it!” Lagerfeld reported — and if he would be interested in designing a special collection for them. “Yes!,” Karl said. “The future will only be about high and low. Everything else in between will disappear. The high I already have with Chanel and this would be perfect to get the low.“ That was it! Karl instinctively went for it. He only had one question: “Have you asked somebody else for this, too, or am I the first one?“ “You’re the first one,” I told him. And Karl said, “OK, then let’s do it!”

A backstage image of Karl Lagerfeld shooting the campaign  Courtesy of H&M

WWD: Was there a particular business imperative from H&M that this project fulfilled?

D.S.: H&M had a stellar success in the Eighties and Nineties. They were the hottest fashion retailer. But by the late Nineties competitors had caught up. So H&M needed some sort of a big bang to further establish its leading position. And this first designer collaboration with Karl Lagerfeld in 2004 did that magic.

Of course going into this, there was no precedent to follow, no blueprint. We had to invent everything on this project while doing it. For example, up until then campaigns had always launched simultaneously with when the products became available in the stores. So we instead invented a countdown strategy for actually building up hype before, putting the campaign out in the days and weeks before. Even actually launching the collection on the same day in all countries was an almost impossible logistic stumbling block. But we did it, it was incredible teamwork, H&M fearlessly believing in it and throwing all its weight behind it.

WWD: Describe the context at the time. How popular were collaborations then?

D.S.: There maybe had been some small local collaborations before, I don’t know. But for sure nobody had ever taken it to this massive scale. And don’t forget, this was before the rise of e-commerce and social media. The phrase “capsule collection” was not common yet, neither putting an X between two names.

Also, Karl had just completely reinvented his persona, just completed his diet to fit into Hedi Slimane’s skinny Dior suits, started wearing lots of Chrome Heart jewelry, several rings on every finger — Karl the rock star! It was the perfect moment to have Karl himself starring in our campaign, I thought. But I knew he doesn’t like to be photographed, so I asked him to be the photographer himself and to shoot the campaign images as self-portraits, him wearing the men’s looks and standing next to model Erin Wasson in the women’s looks. For inspiration I showed him some sketches and mood photos, also some from an old Richard Avedon self portrait-shooting, him together with Marilyn Monroe. Karl loved this direction.

WWD: Did he have to get the permission of Chanel and Fendi to proceed? Or anyone else?

D.S.: No, he didn’t have to ask anybody for permission. Karl said that he has a contract for life with Chanel and can do whatever he wants in his own name.

WWD: The ad campaign played off the incredulity of a luxury name meeting cheap chic. Were you expecting some resistance in the marketplace to this new concept?

D.S.: We wanted to surprise and astonish — doing what nobody had dared before, mixing high and low, making luxury fashion available to everybody. Don’t forget in 2004 it was simply unthinkable that fashion could become democratized one day, the word “collaboration“ was not yet part of fashion’s everyday language. It was clear to us that not everybody would be pleased with this. As you can imagine there was lots of resistance and skepticism from all different sides, also from some journalists. I also remember when I let my Parisian agent into our secret, he was in shock and completely disapproved of it. He thought that this will destroy fashion.

Karl Lagerfeld’s sketches for the collection  Courtesy of H&M

WWD: Was there any nervousness on the H&M side? The Karl side? How risky was it?

D.S.: During the whole project, while working in total secrecy, we could feel that we’re on to something very big. But of course we all had our moments of doubts, even Karl. The morning of the launch, Nov. 12, 2004, 4 a.m. his time in Paris, he called me on my portable. It was 10 p.m. in New York where I was for another shooting. And he was very nervous: “What will we do if nobody shows up today at the stores?“

WWD: Karl liked to be first with things. Why do you think that was so important to him?

D.S.: Karl loved to surprise. He immediately grasped that this is the opportunity to catapult him into the forefront of everything. To break down the borders between luxury fashion and retail. To make him the designer who proved that looking chic is no longer a question of money. After all, it was Karl Lagerfeld for H&M that made Karl into the absolute superstar!

WWD: In what way or ways did it change fashion? How did it affect notions of brand elasticity?

D.S.: This one bang pushed open the door to what’s still thriving in fashion today. Just think of Virgil Abloh at Louis Vuitton, coming from streetwear being nabbed by high luxury and his own penchant for collaborating at all levels, from Ikea to diamond jewelry. Or think of Moncler Genius and its extremely successful serial collaborations.

WWD: What can we learn from this today?

D.S.: The origin of every big shift is a creative idea. Today I too often hear, “We need to find out what the customer wants, follow data, algorithm, consulting firms, Excel sheets.” But come on. If back then in 2004 we would have done a customer survey, no customer would have wished for a Karl Lagerfeld-designed collection from H&M. Therefore my callout for today: Let’s give more empowerment to creative ideas and visions; let’s surprise and dare.

See More from WWD:

Karl Lagerfeld Changed the Fashion Industry Forever

Karl Was the Ultimate Industry Role Model

Video: Remembering Karl Lagerfeld’s Prolific Fashion Career

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[darinb]

Me in the Mirror 3- From Refugee to Royalty

Do you see yourself as royalty? We’ve been looking in the mirror, and asking “what do you see, and do you like it?” We have talked about words spoken over you, and about your value in the eyes of the Lord. He looks at you tells you that you are precious, special and that He has a destiny for you, a wonderful, incredible and amazing destiny.

So today I want to talk more about your destiny and talk about who you really become when you come to Christ... Refugee or royalty?

When you come to Jesus, you are a hopeless sinner. The price for this sin is death, eternal death in hell, separated from God.   But when you accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, not only do you have life forevermore, but you have a new, transformed life right now. Not pie in the sky when you die by and by, but real power and life to the full starting now!   So in this message, I want to look at who we really are.  Are we refugees or are we royalty? When you look in that mirror, who are you? We need to understand the position we now have in Christ and start living up to it!   Let’s have a look at this passage…   1 Peter 2:9-12 (ESV Strong's) But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.   You are an alien, an exile in this world and mark my words, people are watching you and your good deeds.  

CRYING LIKE A REFUGEE

  Today the UNHCR tells us that there are currently 22.5 million refugees in the world—the highest in history. In addition there are 40.3 million internally displaced people; and 2.8 million asylum-seekers.  In 2018 we are quite familiar with what refugees are, and this passage was written to refugees in the first century AD.   The mostly Jewish followers of Christ who first read this book were scattered throughout the Roman empire. They faced harassment from both the Roman government and local synagogue leaders. In fact, their entire society had turned against them, and they were suffering as persecuted refugees. Worse than being a Christian and interviewed on the ABC!   The passage calls them sojourners and exiles. The Greek words used here imply that they are foreigners, people without citizenship, power or protection. Completely despised, completely overlooked, completely taken advantage of, as are many refugees today. These people doubted their significance, doubted their worth and were without hope.   Last week we talked about feelings of worthlessness, and sometimes as believers we experience this feeling. We are strangers, we are aliens in a world that is against us and alienated us.   Philippians 3:20 (ESV Strong's) But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,   Christians are refugees in a hostile, foreign land.  But listen to this…   Missionary Henry Morrison and his wife were returning to New York after years of service in Africa  As the ship neared the dock, Henry said to his wife, “Look at that crowd.  They haven't forgotten about us”.  However, unknown to Henry, the ship also carried President Teddy Roosevelt, returning from a big game hunting trip in Africa.  Roosevelt stepped from the boat, with great fanfare, as people  were cheering, flags were waving,  bands were playing, and reporters waiting for his comment. Once the crowds dispersed, Henry and his wife slowly walked away unnoticed and alone.   “This isn’t much of a homecoming,” said old Henry, and the Lord spoke to him and said, “You’re not home yet!”  

WHO ARE YOU REALLY?

  Those early Christians needed encouragement as they struggled to stand strong in a world where most lacked citizenship, recognition, respect, or privileges. Today, as we strive to find our own places in society and in the church, we need to know who we are in Christ.  We need to look in that mirror and see not just that we are precious and valuable, not just that we have a future, we need to see who we actually are in Christ.   Peter in this passage raises our confidence about our God-given significance and capabilities. This passage shows us who we really are…  

1.      A CHOSEN RACE

  Peter tells these believers that they are not rejects from humanity, but that they are among God’s elect, God’s chosen race or generation, selected based on His foreknowledge and born again to a living hope as His children!   Ephesians 1:4-5 (ESV Strong's) even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,   So we are not a bunch of rejects, no matter what they say about us on Facebook or in the media. We are a chosen race, chosen before time began to be His people, His representatives, adopted into His family.   What a privilege, what an honour! I have said that destiny is a series of choices, and yes we must make a choice to accept Jesus, but hey, He knows in advance what we will choose, and before we even face that choice, Jesus chooses us!   John 15:16 (ESV Strong's) You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide,   We are not rejects, we are chosen by God as His children to bear fruit for Him that lasts!  

2.      A ROYAL PRIESTHOOD

  God’s plan is to build a kingdom of priests, priests of royalty, and you are part of it…   1 Peter 2:5 (ESV Strong's) you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.   In the Old Testament, priests were set aside to offer sacrifices for the people. Now, however, we all have a priestly role when we come to Christ, and we can all offer not animals for sacrifice but our bodies as living sacrifices, fully available for His purposes!   Romans 12:1 (ESV Strong's) I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.   We often talk about ministry as if it belongs only to professional church staff, like there is some magic in these hands.  Yet Scripture describes ministry as the calling and responsibility of every Christian… because we are a royal priesthood!   Recently I had someone leave this church because as the pastor I was not available enough for him. He had a problem, he wanted me to drop everything on my day off and minister to him to his level of satisfaction. Three other people contacted him, one of whom I had referred him to because they are an expert in the area in question, but this wasn’t good enough… he only wanted the pastor.   This is a traditional outdated model of who a pastor should be, but as your pastor, I love you, but I cannot reach that expectation. I still work in the secular world 4 days a week, I minister as pastor evenings, lunchtimes, before work and all weekend, and I still travel with an evangelist, record music, manage websites… oh, and somewhere in all that I also have a wife and family. I am richly blessed but time poor!   Ignite runs on teams. The Lord has blessed me with wonderful teams of people who minister beside me in pastoral care. So if you have a need, we have many, many godly, mature, wise people here to love and care for you. I cannot hope to meet every need of every one of you every time!   Nor should I, because we are all of us priests, all of us able to connect with God. We need to learn to minister to each other, love and care for each other, pray for each other, even sacrifice for each other, because we are a royal priesthood, and as we shall see, royalty rocks!  

3.      A HOLY NATION

  God not only calls us to be His children, He calls us to be holy!   1 Peter 1:15-16 (ESV Strong's) but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”   What does this mean? It means that our lifestyles should reflect the character of God. We must tolerate people in love, but we must not tolerate their sin. God calls us to be a nation set apart for Him!   We saw this in the recent plebiscite. Our country got it wrong. We were told that if we love homosexuals we must give them what they want, but that’s not true. We can love them, care for them and honour them as people and still not agree with their demands! I love my children, but I do not agree with everything they do, and I don’t give them everything they demand!   The eyes of the world are on our actions. If we compromise God’s standards to keep the peace with a godless world, we look just like everyone else. No, we need to stand for what is right, and live lives that are billboards for Jesus. You and I are the only advertisements for Christ some people will ever see!  

4.      A SPECIAL PEOPLE

  In the KJV this phrase is “a peculiar people,” which actually means we are His possession, and therefore get special treatment. Don’t you love it when you are treated as special? Don’t you love it when people accept and honour you in a unique way? Peter is saying that this is how God sees us! We are precious, and special and we get special treatment and privileges others don’t have. In fact, we are royalty, because we live and serve God!   Isaiah 43:4 (ESV Strong's) Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life.   Ephesians 2:18-19 (ESV Strong's) For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,   We are His kids, and get special access to God and His throne room. That’s what prayer is! At the age of 2, Kaileigh already has figured out that, no matter what her mum says, if she asks Pa for a lolly, she almost always gets one. She has special privileges like we do when it comes to our Heavenly Father!   Why do we get such a special relationship with God? I don’t know, because I surely am not worthy of it, yet He chooses to bless me and my family, to be close to me, to draw me nearer His heart.  

THE JOURNEY FROM REFUGEE TO ROYALTY

  Let me finish by taking you on a journey from rags to royalty… so that when you look in the mirror, you see yourself as who you really are. Not a downtrodden refugee, but as royalty… You start as a…  

1.      SINNER

  I know I’m a sinner, and I bet you know you are too! Our sin separates us from God, and our sin will send us to eternal separation from God forever in hell.   Revelation 20:12,15 (ESV Strong's) And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.   We start life condemned to eternal death in hell, but Jesus paid that price for us, that if we accept Him as Lord we will not go to hell, but will be with Him in heaven.   Hell is real… so what is hell like? People say they won’t mind going to hell, because they can break open a pack of cards and have a few drinks with their mates… no they won’t! Hell is eternal separation from God and everything about God.   God is light, says the Bible, God is truth and joy and fellowship and worship, the greatest experience you could ever have, and it lasts for ever.   If you want to see what hell is really like, look at the cross! Hell is pain, torment, darkness and intense loneliness. No light in hell, no fellowship in hell.   If you haven’t accepted Jesus and His free gift of salvation, do it now, while you still can. Life is short, fragile and unpredictable, so turn and receive by grace His gift of eternal life.  

2.      SLAVES

  Today there are more than 35 million people living in slavery, including forced labour and prostitution. But there are billions of people unknowingly living in slavery every day, and you might be one of them. Are you a slave to sin? To your unbridled passions? To money? To someone else like an abusive partner? Fact is, you are going to be a slave to something!   You can be saved and be a Christian, yet still be a slave to sin in your life…   Romans 6:16-18 (ESV Strong's) Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.   So the choice is yours… stay a slave to sin, or step up and become a slave to righteousness, because you’re gonna have to serve somebody!  

3.      SAINT

  When you decide you’ve had enough of being a slave to sin, you can accept Christ and live like it and become a saint!   Coming to Christ is a fresh start.  Billy Graham said, "How many times in your life have you wished you could start all over again with a clean slate, with a new life? Resolve right now to allow God to wipe your slate clean by confessing your sins and letting Him give you a brand-new start."   A saint is not some famous dead guy, and it’s not a St George football player.   Ephesians 2:19 (ESV Strong's) So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,   When you come to Christ, you become a saint, and instead of being a slave to sin, you become a servant of the living God…  

4.      SERVANT

  Mark 10:42-45 (ESV Strong's) And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”   I stand here as a servant of God, and I also serve you, as your pastor, however inadequately. I’m not higher or lower than you, because we are all saints, all priests and all servants. But here’s the cool thing…  

5.      SON OR DAUGHTER (ROYALTY)

  Jesus said,   John 15:15 (ESV Strong's) No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.   When you serve the Lord as a slave to righteousness, Jesus becomes a friend as well as a master. But He doesn’t stop there… the Bible says, you are adopted into His special family   Romans 8:14-15 (ESV Strong's) For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”   You are a friend, but then you become royalty because you are adopted as His child, a son or a daughter of the King of Kings. That makes you a princess, or a prince. So, folks, you are royalty, a royal priesthood, a holy nation.   Recently we saw a beautiful lady named Megan Markle become royalty. She is an actress, part African American and a divorcee, an unlikely mix for royalty. Yet she is now royalty, the Duchess of Sussex. How can this be?   This happened because someone chose her. She didn’t deserve it and she hasn’t worked for it. Megan Markel became royalty simply because Prince Harry chose her to fall in love with. She didn't strive for royalty, she did not work for royalty.  She was chosen, a favoured person, and because royalty because the Prince chose her.   And Jesus chooses you! Not because you deserve it, and not because you’ve earned it. He just chose you to become royalty, that’s all. The problem is that we mentally understand this, but often don’t live like it!  

LIVE LIKE ROYALTY

  That’s my challenge to you… We ought to live like the royalty we are! Think about what that means.   A Prince or Princess always wants to represent the King well, not to pursue their own agenda. They answer to the King alone, not the opinions of those around them. Certain actions are beneath them. They always look composed, and they hold to certain standards of behaviour, speech and dress.   Royalty do not become entangled in the filth and dirt of this world, but they live a life of privilege, honour and power, respected not for what they do or achieve, but for who they are… because they are kids of the King!  Their agenda is to do the King’s business. They live a life of power and privilege, but with great authority comes great responsibility.   In the same way we may to be in the world, but not of it. We need to live a life of privilege and power in the Holy Spirit, a holy life that pleases the King and represents the King’s interests.   In West Texas during the Depression, Mr. Ira Yates was like many other ranchers and farmers. He had a lot of land, and a ton of debt. Mr. Yates wasn’t able to make enough on his ranching operation to pay his loans, and he was in danger of losing his ranch. He had little money for clothes or food, his family (like many others) had to live on a government subsidy.   Day after day, as he grazed his dwindling number of sheep over those rolling West Texas hills, he was no doubt greatly troubled about how he would pay his bills.   Then a seismographic crew from an oil company came into the area and told him there might be oil on his land. They asked permission to drill a wildcat well, and he signed a lease contract.   At 1,115 feet they struck a huge oil reserve. The first well came in at 80,000 barrels a day. Many subsequent wells were more than twice as large.   In fact, 30 years after the discovery, a government test of one of the wells showed it still had the potential flow of 125,000 barrels of oil a day. And Mr. Yates owned it all. The day he purchased the land he had received the oil and mineral rights. Yet, he’d been living on government relief. A multimillionaire living in poverty. The problem? He didn’t know the oil was there even though he owned it.   So today is the day that you and I begin to live like royalty. We can be bold, we can be confident, we can act like we own the place, because our Dad does! As we serve and honour Him, we can ask whatever we want according to the will of the King and be confident that He hears us and cares for us.   Hebrews 4:16 (ESV Strong's) Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.   You can confidently approach God’s Throne, knowing you have an insider’s relationship with the King.   It’s time to stop acting like commoners and become royalty, to step into our God given destinies as sons and daughters of the King! Megan Markle is no longer acting in Suits, Grace Kelly stopped making movies when she became a princess, because common careers are laud aside as we serve the Ling, and Him alone!   Today some of you, many of you, understand what I’ve been talking about in principle, but you are not living like royalty. Maybe you’re a slave to sin… royalty aren’t slaves! Maybe you are being kicked around by life… royalty do not get pushed around by the public. You have unfathomable spiritual riches, but perhaps you are living like a spiritual pauper. You are royalty, and need to live like it!   Today all of us, every single one of us who have accepted Christ, today we will be reminded that we are royalty, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, a chosen race… sons and daughters of the King of Kings. Princes, princesses, adopted into royal lineage... royalty!   When a King was inaugurated in ancient times, they were anointed with oil. This is a sign to the people, and to any enemies, that they were the King.   Today I’m going to do something crazy and, if you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Saviour, that you join me in this craziness.  Today I want us all to be anointed today as Royalty, and from today we shall live as the princes and princesses we are, that we have been destined to be!

https://ignitechurch.org.au/me-in-the-mirror-3-from-refugee-to-royalty/

[gaypoetsblog]

The most lethal and deadliest face card in the history

Carlos filming for L'Oreal Paris with Simone Ashley - Feb 11, 2025